Legend of Anima
by Scarlet.Gellie.HA HA HA
Summary: Once upon a time, there was a man, his sister, eight girls, an assassin, and one big dream. They tried to make it happen. / Eight dolls. Two are dead; one is dying. The Alice Game has ended and a battle for dominance has begun. And ask yourself a question: "Who is really pulling the strings from behind the scenes?"/ Mystery, intrigue, and a story that started many, many, years ago.
1. Prologue

_Scarlet: Hi. Yeah. Umm... Gellie! Do the disclaimer!  
_

_Gellie: I'm sorry... She has socializing problems! Anyways... We don't own Rozen Maiden, even though I can draw them awesomely well!  
_

_Scarlet: GELLIEEEEE! YOU SHOW-OFF! AND WHO SAID I HAD SOCIALIZING PROBLEMS?!  
_

_Gellie: Pfpth... Oh well. This is a collaboration account/story, which I guess is quite obvious. Now I gotta run because Scarlet is mad at me... *sprints away*  
_

_Scarlet: GET BACK HERE! Anyway... Bye. Enjoy the story?...! GELLLLLLIIEEEEE! YOU ARE SO DEAD!_

* * *

_Long long ago..._

"Are you ready?" a man said to the looming shadows.

Without waiting for a reply, he turned his back on them, counting the floorboards out loud. When he reached the desired number, he bent down and pried the board up. The man took out a sealed wooden box that he had hidden under the floor beds. He drew out a knife and sliced his palm, allowing dark droplets of blood to splatter on to the lock. The blood slowly sunk into the metal, as if it the steel was sucking it in like a vampire.

Everyone in the room watched with bated breath as the last speck of maroon was swallowed. There was a loud click as box flew open, and the man reached down. His hand came up again gripping a bottle, with a black, shiny, object sealed inside the container. Looking closer, you could recognize the inky object as a crystal. With shaking hands, he then used the knife to pop out the cork, the hollow stopper bouncing on the floor before rolling to a stop. Tilting the bottle over, the fist-sized crystal inside slowly slid out to land in the man's hand.

He grasped it tightly, turned around again, and faced the now exposed neat row of young women in front of him, waiting for their answer of the question he had asked earlier. As one, they all nodded their heads.

A young lady stood up, not suppressing her curiosity, tilted her head, and looked at the glimmering stone.

"So this is the Rosa Mystica?" she said loudly, her voice clear and layered with a strong British accent.

The man squinted, eager to see her expression. He wondered if the girl's face was pale with horror and strained to clear his vision even more; he had always enjoyed seeing the uneasiness of others. Luckily for her, the room was dark and dim, so her face was hidden by the darkness that came with flickering lights. Tsking at the fact that he couldn't see well, the man walked forward and stood face-to-face with the young woman.

"Yes, this is the Rosa Mystica," he said in an apathetic tone.

The young lady's face broke into an imperceptible smile as she realized why the man was so unforthcoming. He didn't want to admit that he couldn't finish this project alone.

Almost flaunting his lack of success, she smirked, pronouncing, "In the end... In the end you still need our souls to polish it. You need _us_ to make it gleam so that the doll's lives could be activated. Is that so?"

The man ignored the girl's words, pushing the memory of his failure away. The reminder just increased his taste for cruelty as his mind sharpened. Eyes narrowing unconsciously, he scanned the room slowly, letting his eyes linger uncomfortably on each and every person there.

"Who's first?"

Nobody answered.

The man sighed and walked to another young female. This person had an Asian appearance. Her dark hair was woven into a long braid that snaked down her back. The man snatched the girl up from her seat, taking no notice of her cry of pain as he pulled her arm roughly.

"Let's start with you then," he said coldly.

Another girl with curly black hair that was sitting beside the Asian girl rushed up to him. She pushed him away from the Asian, turned and mumbled a few soothing words to the girl before swiveling around to the man again, her eyes gleaming with defiance.

"Wait a second! Didn't you say that my doll could be the first doll? But she's not finished yet!" she snapped, complaining.

Her hands clenching at her side, the girl went on, "How can you have us start polishing now when she's not finished? Are you going to the let the first thing she learns to be the fact that she is imperfect? How could you? It's so..."

Her firm voice faltered and she dug her face into her hands, gulping, allowing the tears brimming in her eyes to tumble down her cheeks as she sobbed slightly, "Don't you think that she's pitiful? Aren't you their _Father?_ She doesn't even have a stomach! How can you do this to her when she loves you so much?"

The man snorted, running a hand through his blond hair, looking as if he didn't care about what the girl was saying at all. A scraping sound rang through the room as yet another person stood up. An older girl with wheat colored hair wrapped her arms around the black-haired girl, comforting her.

The light-haired girl swept the man with a deadly glare and drew a sword from her waist, growling, "_Rozen_, I'm sure you realize that I can kill you, right here, right now." The young lady's turquoise eyes glowed with killing intent.

"And there are two reasons that I wish you dead: Firstly, You didn't give my doll a whole body, as you crushed one of her eyes during one of your stupid tantrums. Secondly, you didn't even bother to give her a body at all!" she snarled, eyes blazing, as she slashed her sword at Rozen.

Hard.

Rozen narrowly avoided the slicing cut by stepping aside, but the blade still managed to shear off a few strands of his golden hair that glided down to rest gently on the floor. The male's eyes flared and he said icily, "That's enough. You came here of your own violation; it's not like I forced you here." (Scarlet: Wow. Still arrogant after you almost died?)

The murderous look slipped off the girl's face. She hissed in irritation before slouching back down on her chair. She couldn't think of saying something to prove Rozen's statement wrong, because all of them had come here themselves. They had all fallen into the man's deadly trap, lulled by his empty, worthless promises and poisonous, sweet, words.

The room quieted and nobody protested anymore.

"Done? Good. Let's start polishing now."

He walked over to the wheat haired girl who had defied him earlier and his eyes flashed with sadism.

"Starting with you."

* * *

_Sometimes it is easier to see clearly into the liar than into the man who tells the truth. Truth, like light, blinds. Falsehood, on the contrary, is a beautiful twilight that enhances every object._  
—Albert Camus (The Fall)

* * *

_First Arc ⎡_Lies_⎦:_ ** Begin   
**

* * *

_Scarlet: And that's our wrap! PEACE! :D_

_Gellie: Are you still mad at me?  
_

_Scarlet:...  
_

_Gellie: Nani?  
_

_Scarlet: YESSSS!  
_

_Gellie: Eep! Anyways... I edited this again!  
_

_Scarlet: Without even TELLING ME?  
_

_Gellie: KYAAAAAAAA!  
_


	2. Chapter 1: Awaken

Chapter 1

«Awaken»

* * *

Shinku ran rapidly down the hall.

_Click! Clock! Click! Clock!_

Her heels pounded the ground as she trailed the white figure floating in the air.

It was just hours ago that Shinku had received a message from the mirror. It was Kirakishou's invitation for another battle. She had recently found out that Kirakishou was alive again, and just when she begun to think that the other doll was dead. With Hollier guiding her, she had discovered Kirakishou in her N field, a castle situated in the middle of a large field of roses. Now she was trying to track Kirakishou down, and destroy her before it was too late.

_That doll,_ Shinku thought, _has harmed too many innocent people; I cannot let her slip away from my hands this time!_

Shinku had not told the others that she would be battling Kirakishou tonight. She didn't want to pull her dear sisters into this horror. Besides, it was time to end all this worthless fighting and killing and taking of Rose Mysticas now. She needed to defeat Kirakishou and teach her a lesson, so that she would realize how important it was to bond with her sisters. After all, the child would only be obedient and listen when her mind wasn't filled with winning the Alice Game. And if necessary, she would have to dispose of her more... _permanently_. Knowing and believing that she had to do this alone, Shinku had slipped out of the house at night, using a puddle on the ground as a mirror to travel.

Kirakishou snickered as she watched the tiny speck that was Shinku struggling to keep pace with her.

"Isn't running tiring, Shinku? Why don't you just lay down and_ rest_?" She chuckled as she raised her hand and lashed out with a white rose vine.

"Good bye, Shinku..." she cackled, seeing the emotion of shock on the blonde's face.

Shinku hopped aside just in time, almost being skewered by the thorny whip. She drew in a breath of relief as the rose vine crashed down where she had been few seconds go. She had been lucky this time. Who knew what would happen if she wasn't alert for every second of the battle. She couldn't take risks. After all, Kirakishou's power had strengthened even more over the time of her disappearance.

Shinku leaped on to the wall, kicked hard with her right leg, and hurled herself into the air.

Deciding that the hovering Shinku in the air was in a position of disadvantage, Kirakishou whipped out another vine and aimed it at her.

Shinku smiled. This was exactly what she needed. She did a perfect back flip and the vine went shooting past under her head. She twisted her body nimbly and her feet landed skillfully on the vine.

Not wasting her chance, she quickly took out her cane as she dashed up the vine, completely concentrated on getting to the end. Kirakishou cursed, realizing her mistake and tried to pull the vine back. It was too late. Shinku had already thrown her cane at Kirakishou.

"Argh!" Kirakishou grunted as the cane hit her hard in the stomach.

Shinku leaped towards Kirakishou and pounced on her, clapping her hands onto her neck. Kirakishou lost her balance. She wobbled backwards, and Shinku leaned forward even more.

In that second ice-cold blue and sharp, cruel, green eyes met. It was Kirakishou who broke their eye contact as the two dolls whirled in the air.

Both dolls wanted the other to be at the bottom so that the unlucky loser would be the one to cushion the other's fall and would be harmed when their back slammed against the ground.

After some lightning fast spinning and wrestling, Shinku managed to stay on top by blocking Kirakishou's eyesight with a few rose petals.

The two dolls tumbled down, with Shinku keeping her grip on Kirakishou's throat tight and with Kirakishou giggling, despite the fact that she was losing at the moment.

They landed with a gigantic thud.

Dust flew into the air as their bodies hit the ground. Eventually, the dust cleared and the forms of the dolls become visible. Kirakishou was lying on the ground grinning. She glanced at Shinku, pressing her down with her ghostly stare. There was a moment of silence, and the only sound was the water in the river nearby gurgling.

Shinku pressed harder in return as she reciprocated the stare, her eyes blazing as she meticulously crushed Kirakishou's throat.

"Heh... heh..." Kirakishou laughed weakly, voice croaking from the lack of oxygen passing through her doll lungs.

"Why are you laughing?" Shinku said as she squeezed her throat even harder.

"Hmph! Why? Turn around and take a look…" Kirakishou rasped, her eyes focused on something behind the red doll.

Shinku turned her head slowly. She stared in to the darkness.

_Tap... Tap... Tap..._

Footsteps echoed from afar. Shinku squinted. She could slowly start to make out the head, the body, the eye patch and the golden eye glowing in the gloom.

Shinku gasped as the doll stepped out of the shadows. Moonlight shone down on to her silvery hair, outlining her purple form with silver light.

Barasuishou stood in front of them. Kirakishou sniggered croakily in glee. Shinku gasped.

The blond doll froze, her mind spinning.

_What is going on? Wasn't Barasuishou destroyed?_ Shinku's brain couldn't make sense of this situation. She breathed in and out, forcing herself to stay calm.

"I thought you were dead." Shinku hissed as her eyes narrowed.

Barasuishou did not answer but just tittered, shaking her head and smirking at the same time. She tried to suppress her laughter, her body shook from the effort that it took, but even though she tried to stay quiet, the expression of her amusement still tumbled out of her lips.

"Me? Dead? Did you really think I would die that easily? Who do you take me as? Heh... I'm Barasuishou! An Enju Maiden! I'm different from a weak Rozen Maiden like you! Hahaha!"

Shinku glared Barasuishou, feeling like she was going to burst with anger. She hated to be taunted like this. She bit her lower lip and struggled to keep calm, but the emotion of rage just kept washing over her.

Seeing that Shinku was distracted, Kirakishou pulled Shinku's fingers off her neck and leaped up, throwing Shinku off her. Shinku went off balance and fell. She skid backwards, the back of her head colliding into the wall with a loud _BANG!_

Shinku moaned in pain. She felt as though bees were buzzing in her head. The dizziness was so bad that her eyesight had become fuzzy. She could only see the blurred white form of Kirakishou coming closer to her.

Kirakishou shot out two vines. Both curled themselves greedily onto Shinku's arms and raised her up from the ground, the rose thorns digging deeply into her doll skin. Shinku winced and gritted her teeth from the pain, telling herself to ignore it.

Kirakishou seemed satisfied at the agony on Shinku's face. She skipped merrily to one side, plopping down onto the huge throne in the hall.

She smiled sweetly and placed a finger onto her cheek, puckered her lips and cocked her head. She stared at the Shinku before her, watching the clenching of her jaw, with a triumphant smirk on her features. With her free hand twirling her long hair slowly, she turned to Barasuishou.

"Mou... I'm already bored of this play. You can take care of her. I will enjoy the show." Kirakishou said, acting cute, as she beckoned to Barasuishou.

Barasuishou nodded grimly and took one of her crystals off of her hair. She ran her fingers along the sides, making the crystal grow bigger and longer with each stroke until it was a sword.

Shinku knew that her death was coming. She could taste it in the air.

Suddenly, Shinku felt that there were just too many things she couldn't let go. She thought about Jun and her sisters, about the times they had together.

Unwittingly, tears streaked down her cheeks.

She couldn't bear to leave everybody and she couldn't stand the truth that she would sleep on forever alone. Her teeth gritted even tighter.

Very slowly and without strength, Shinku raised her head, the sharp look in her eyes not lost. She held her head high and muttered some words confidently before closing her eyes.

Barasuishou stiffened at Shinku words while raising her sword over her head in the middle of her chop, adopting a rather stupid position. She shrugged, banishing Shinku's words from her mind.

Without any more hesitation, Barasuishou raised her sword and sliced down hard onto Shinku's head.

Shinku's eyes were shocked as her body split into half, "No…" she whimpered as she fell back. Shinku collapsed on the ground, her eyes blank and dull; her limbs dislocated and splintered.

"Lifeless." Kirakishou simpered.

Shinku's Rosa Mystica floated out of its owner's shattered body and into Kirakishou's hands.

"Do you want it? It was, in a way, your kill," she offered.

Barasuishou shook her head stiffly. "No, I don't need it."

Kirakishou smiled at her answer, satisfied. She twirled the Rose Mystica in her fingers, holding it up to the moonlight, admiring its beauty. She strolled up to Shinku's corpse, stepping on to her damaged face.

"I won Shinku... Look at you. How adorable. You're my most adorable work." She teased.

She urged up a rose vine that plucked Shinku's body from the ground. Her eyes scanned the remains, searching for something she could make use of.

Her golden-green eyes lit up. She found it.

Picking up and holding half of Shinku's head in her hands, Kirakishou stuck her finger into Shinku's eye socket. There was a sluggish slurping sound.

Her smile widened.

Wiggling her finger, Kirakishou popped the eyeball out of the socket.

Laughing with pleasure, she then removed the rose covering her own incompleteness and inserted Shinku's blue eyeball into her own empty socket. Placing the rose back onto her new eye, Kirakishou touched Shinku's eyelids and closed them because the glassy, blank, look in Shinku's one orb disgusted her.

Barasuishou had flinched slightly at the sight of Kirakishou fiddling with Shinku's eyeball, but she still looked a little interested and followed Kirakishou when she flew out of the window cradling Shinku in her arms, landing in front of the rushing river.

The river's current was roaring, the waves lapping hungrily at the shore, eager to swallow a life into its icy enclosure. With a huge huff from her lips, Kirakishou tossed Shinku into the water.

_Splash! Kerplump!_

Shinku's pieces hit the water. Bobbing up and down, the shattered Shinku floated away with the current.

Touching her new eye with affection, Kirakishou watched with a sly grin as Shinku was washed downriver and out of her view.

"Are you sure you don't want it?" she asked Barasuishou again, who in turn shook her head, again.

Kirakishou shrugged, raised the glowing crystal to her lips, and began to absorb it, sighing in delight as she felt the warmth of it on her mouth.

Suddenly, there was a flash of scarlet and golden light from the Rosa Mystica. Kirakishou squealed and her hands flew away from her face, holding the Rosa Mystica a wary distance away.

It flew out of Kirakishou's hands and hovered in the air before drifting a beeline it to the mirror in the hall.

"What?!" Kirakishou gasped.

There was a bubbling sound, the two dolls turned and saw the surface of the river gurgling. Hollier flew out of the rolling water and followed the Rose Mystica. The Rose Mystica stopped. It shone brighter and brighter until the twirling light rays morphed into the form of a doll.

Barasuishou's eyes widened in astonishment.

"What is that?!"

The shimmering doll glared at the two horrified dolls, hatred glinting in its orange eyes. There was another flash of light and the doll was a normal Rosa Mystica again. It flew into the mirror with Hollier following after, leaving the dumbfounded Kirakishou and Barasuishou behind.

.

..

...

_Jun tossed and turned in his sleep. He was dreaming about being washed down a river. He was tumbling under the current, smashing against the rocks, banging on the ground. His lungs were on fire, and he wished for something, anything, to grab onto and pull himself to the surface. Reaching up, his fingers closed on to something..._

_Something that felt like another hand._

_He tried to use it to lever himself up, but instead he pulled it down. Cursing his stupidity in losing the only chance he might have had, he cracked open his eyes to see what he was holding while ignoring the sting of water on his eyeballs._

_He stared in disbelief at Shinku's arm, complete with the ring._

* * *

Jun woke up screaming.

"Shinku!" He exclaimed.

Jun knew something was wrong. Something must have happened to Shinku. He jumped out of his bed, and rushed to the case Shinku always slept in. He flung the case open.

Shinku was not there.

"Shinku! How come? Why?" Jun cried, his voice panic-stricken.

_"Shinku? She's gone,"_ said a voice.

Jun spun around, almost falling. There was a doll on his windowsill.

Her lavender colored curly hair drifted in the wind, whipping at the sides of the window. Her orange eyes gleamed like the sun, and Hollier flew near her shoulders. She wore a light pink top with rose embroidery rimming the bottom and there was a rose with a crystal in the middle, on her chest. Her dress was in the shape of a rose and it faded from scarlet to light yellow. Red ribbons tied around her arms and neck, and her hair was pulled into a ponytail with a rose hair tie. There were two strands of spiral-like curls left out of the ponytail that mimicked Shinku.

He blinked. A doll that Jun had never seen before? But he thought he already knew all the dolls! He sneezed and then yawned.

Jun was still sleepy and unable to make sense of what was happening. He rubbed his eyes and squinted at the doll on his windowsill. He said the first thing that came to mind.

"Shinku, why'd you dye your hair and why did you have to go dye it at this time too? It looked better before. And are your eyes infected? We have a home remedy you could use..."

The doll's eyes were bleak. "I'm not Shinku. She's gone. She's dead," the doll said coldly.

Jun was puzzled. He didn't know what was going on.

"What?"

The doll jumped off the windowsill and landed silently on the ground.

"You must be Shinku's medium, Baka (idiot) Jun," the doll said.

Jun's vein popped out.

"What! What do you mean Baka Jun?! My name is Sakurada Jun!" he yelled.

The doll sustained her chilling expression.

"Looks like you don't like to be called Baka Jun. Fine then. Let's restart. Greetings," she said, sweeping a polite curtsey, "I am very glad to meet you, Orokana Jun."

Jun sweat-dropped at the revised nickname. _It means the same thing!_

"I'm Akaihana, the thirteenth Rozen Maiden. I am here to tell you that Shinku has been killed and your contract is destroyed."

Suiseiseki chose this moment to wake up, propping up the lid of her case and trying to process the conversation that was going on.

"Thirteen, desu? Unlucky desu~" she mumbled dreamily. Then Suiseiseki fell back into her case and started snoring.

Jun thought about it. "She's right. Thirteen is unlucky, I'm sure of that. And besides, aren't there supposed to be only seven Rozen Maidens? Eight if you count Barasuishou."

Akaihana glared at him.

"You're so superstitious. Thirteen was never unlucky until some idiots like you start believing that it was, and I'm not Shinku. Shinku is dead. How many times do you want me to repeat that?"

Jun glanced reflexively down at his hand, and saw that his ring was gone. Refusing to believe Akaihana, he looked back at her and asked, "Why'd you cancel the contract, Shinku?"

She rolled her eyes and sighed heavily, exasperated.

"Look, I really don't have the time and the patience for this. Can't you just realize it, Orokana Jun? I need to save Shinku because she's dead. And to save her I need you to be my medium."

Jun gazed at Akaihana. He couldn't help but believe it, even though he didn't want to. Shinku really was dead. Akaihana speedily lifted her arm and a glowing ring appeared on her finger.

"Become my medium, Jun, and we will revive Shinku together." she said.

His heart felt strangely empty and somehow he could not feel any grief for Shinku. Or at least, he thought he didn't feel any anguish.

Jun stepped back.

"What?! Let me have to take care of another doll?! I just got rid of one and now you? No way." Jun smirked, trying hiding his sorrow.

Akaihana remained cool and complacent.

"I'm sorry, but you have to find another medium. I already have so many annoying dolls living in my home that I can't even count them. I just got freed of one, and now you want me to put up with another?"

He finally got a reaction. Akaihana glared at him. Her eyes burned like fire and seemed to sear through him like lasers.

"You are useless. I don't even know why Shinku chose you as her medium. Apparently you don't even want to help her at all. Do you care for Shinku or not?"

Startled by her comment, Jun relived everything he had been through with Shinku. Every moment he had spent with her. All the time she had praised and been proud of his sewing. Even all the slapping with the hair too. And the whole time, he could hear Akaihana's voice, asking him again and again, "Do you care for Shinku or not?"

Did he? After all this time, had he really bonded with Shinku at all? And had Shinku bonded with him?

_I think... Maybe..._

Jun made his decision. Wordlessly, he kissed Akaihana's ring.

Akaihana nodded her approval.

"Contract established," she said simply, as if it was nothing to her.

At the same time, Jun felt the warmth of a new ring forming on his finger.

* * *

Akaihana jumped onto Jun's bed and sat down onto his soft pillow.

"Jun, I'm tired. Go get me some hot chocolate," she ordered.

Jun adjusted his glasses. "Why should I? Can't you go get it yourself?" He said, irritated.

Akaihana sighed, obviously annoyed.

"Be a good boy and go."

"No."

"Go."

"NO!"

"GO! OROKANA JUN!"

"NO! NO! NOOOO!"

_Slap!_ Akaihana had stripped the lace off her neck and used it to slap the boy. Jun was whipped right on his face. He glided across the room, twirling like a ballet dancer, with drool dribbling out from the corner of his mouth.

"Sheesh...Troublesome. You just _had to_ push me to the point that I had to yell..." he heard her mutter.

When Jun was going to smash into the wall, Akaihana used the same ribbon to slide a picture that was hanging on the wall to the exact place where Jun would crash.

Bang! Jun crashed perfectly into the picture.

"AH! My head! Itai!" Jun whined. He swayed as he stood up. The picture frame was still stuck on his head.

Jun panted in anger, wanting to shout at the purple haired doll as loud as he could. When Akaihana's orange orbs landed on Jun, she burst out laughing. The picture was a picture of Shinku holding Kun-kun. Jun's face happened to make a hole in Kun-kun's side and it _just_ happened that his face was just stuck at the place where the dog's face was.

Akaihana whipped out a purse from absolutely nowhere. She took a camera out from the purse.

_Click!_

A picture of the Jun/Kun-kun hybrid was speedily taken. His picture was printed out immediately and Akaihana plucked the picture from the camera and waved it in his face.

"Oh look Jun! Shinku is cuddling you! Isn't it cute?" Jun's face flushed red for a second.

"If you don't buy the stuff on this list," the doll said, jotting down things on a piece of paper, "I will show this picture to everybody."

Jun snorted. Like she will be brave enough to go outside. Dolls can't go outside and show people pictures. It will cause chaos.

"Would you like to know how? Well, computers are such interesting things, you know? I studied them whenever you used one in front of Shinku. I'm fairly sure that I can work one. I'll send this to every email address I can find. Including the people at your school." She warned, stuffing the list into the boy's sweating palm.

Jun gulped. Random people he didn't know and were halfway across the globe? Fine. His classmates? A completely other matter.

"Hurry," she said.

Jun adjusted his glasses and skimmed through the list.

"Wait a second here. I know you want hot chocolate, but why do I have to buy cherries and yakult?"

Akaihana spun back around, waved the picture in front of his face, and settled down on to the bed.

"Don't ask. Just go. Hurry." Akaihana ordered again.

So Jun went out to buy hot chocolate, cherries and yakult in 4:07 in the morning.

* * *

Jun came back from outside and slumped over the first chair he could find. He was dog-tired. No, _even more_ tired than a dog. Just thinking that he still had to lug his body to the kitchen to wash the cherries and brew hot chocolate made him feel sick.

His sister, Nori, walked over to him from the stairs.

"Oh! You're back!"

Her eyes went to the bags in his arms.

"You got the chocolate! Akaihana is waiting."

"Hn… Yeah, I got it."

Jun gasped, sitting up in his chair.

"How did you know about Akaihana?"

Nori smiled.

"Well, I heard some noises coming from your room. I was curious, so I went up to see, and um...I found her there. Ne… Jun, Akaihana has such good manners, doesn't she? She introduced herself right away when she saw me. She has such a good character…" and she droned on.

Jun didn't pay attention to her at all. All he bothered to do was toss the groceries to her, and then order her to prepare the chocolate and cherries. She scurried away.

He got up from his chair and relocated on to the sofa. He released a sigh of relief as he sunk into the softness of the furniture. He heard sounds of gunfire and noticed that the TV was open, and wondered if someone had forgotten to turn the TV off.

Jun soon realized that there was somebody sitting beside him for he had saw him or her from the corner of his eye. His heart pounded in fear as he turned his head, at the same time dreading that it was 'she' while hoping that it wasn't 'she.'

Akaihana was sitting beside him. Her face was calm and she clutched the remote control in her hands, her expression serious. She was watching a documentary about Word War II. Jun stifled a gasp of horror, stood up right away and sat at the other sofa, to get as far as possible from Akaihana.

Akaihana did not react at all as she was staring at the TV with high concentration. Jun relaxed. He really was scared of her ribbons. Plus... he didn't know if she had any other ways of inflicting torture. Who knows what might happen if he made her mad?

"Hey! Chibi-human! Who's that desu?" He heard a familiar voice from behind him.

Startled, Jun jumped a bit. Kneeling on the sofa, he turned to see who was the owner of the voice.

There was Suiseiseki, her arms akimbo as she swept him a glare as deadly as poison. "Sheesh, desu! You are so slow! What took you so long to find us, desu? And again, who's that?"

Jun rolled his eyes and caught a flash of blue. He swung his head to the back even more to look at Suiseiseki's twin. Souseiseki had her gardener shears in her hands. She was focusing on Akaihana, watching her every move.

"How should I know exactly? She is just a stupid doll called Akaihana. She arrived here few hours ago at night, blabbering about how Shinku is dead and that she needs to revive her. All that nonsense," he retorted, returning her glare.

The look of arrogance slipped off Suiseiseki's face and was replaced by horror. She hooked her fingers tightly on Jun's sleeve.

"Chibi-human! Where actually is Shinku desu?" she demanded.

Jun could feel her fingers tremble through the thin material.

Then the doll's eyes widened and she looked thunderstruck. She let go of the human and clenched her small hands to fists. Shudders rippled through the girl as terrible thoughts of what could have happened to Shinku flooded into her mind.

"Is… Is… is she dead? Could it be that this... Akaihana killed her, desu?" Suiseiseki cried, her voice shaking.

Suiseiseki buried her face in her hands, sobbing. Putting an arm around her older sister and with a grave expression on her face, Souseiseki spoke calmly to Jun. "Master, I believe that Akaihana may have bad intentions. She is after all a doll that we have never heard of before. Also, we don't know what she wants. She could be father's newest work, or even... _Alice_. If she is, then she must have killed Shinku to keep her... place."

Souseiseki really cared about Jun and her sisters' safety. This was why she was always so careful around people and was afraid of enraging them. There weren't many who could control their anger when they were filled with rage and might be blinded by their wrath as they do harmful deeds.

"Is she dead? Did Shinku really get killed by Akaihana, desu?" Suiseiseki shrieked again, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Souseiseki winced at that question.

The clatter of the remote slipping out of Akaihana's hand on the ground was loud in the sudden silence. Suiseiseki yelped and hid behind Souseiseki, who in turn raised her scissors, holding them protectively across her chest.

Akaihana leaped down from the sofa and headed towards the fallen remote. She bent down at a casual pace, picked up the remote control, and shut the TV off. Akaihana started making her way to Jun, her eyes sliding from Jun to the hiding twin dolls. With a sharp _Swish!_ Souseiseki sliced the blades of her shears at Akaihana.

Akaihana saw the doll coming and stopped and remained still, not ducking at all when the other doll charged at her.

Surprisingly, the blade didn't harm her. It just stopped right in front of her face. So all Souseiseki did was point her weapon at Akaihana.

"Who. Are. You." Souseiseki stated, pronouncing each word clearly.

Akaihana's expression hardened. "That is a difficult question," she said weakly, her eyes looking away.

It might have been his Jun's own mind, but for a moment Akaihana suddenly looked old, tired, and weary at that simple, or perhaps not so simple, inquiry.

He blinked and that expression was already gone from her face.

Souseiseki's brow creased at her answer. She didn't understand what Akaihana meant. Akaihana walked silently to the table and set down the remote. Akaihana didn't bother to look at the others; she just turned and headed for the stairs.

"Oh right. I almost forgot. Orokana Jun, Please bring the mirror from the storeroom upstairs," she said, her feet already traveling up the stairs.

Jun opened his mouth to argue.

"Don't whine and don't ask why."

He closed his mouth again.

"Don't forget the cherries and the hot chocolate. Ah, and the yakult too," she said coldly before she looked back at the two Rozen Maidens, her expression turning gentle.

"Suiseiseki, Souseiseki, rest assured that I don't have any bad intentions at all. It's just that I don't know how to explain to you this situation now. You will know when it's the right time."

.

..

...

"What was that?" Barasuishou said, shuddering.

Kirakishou touched the water, making gentle ripples as the roaring river calmed.

"As you may have realized, that doll was Shinku's Rosa Mystica," said Kirakishou.

Barasuishou paused, deep in thought.

"And it turned into a doll because it needed to...?"

Barasuishou stepped onto the water. She did not sink in but floated on the surface as she walked slowly from on shore to the other as she waited for Kirakishou to answer.

"...It needed to revive Shinku. That's what Rosa Mysticas are there for. They are supposed to keep their owners alive and to resurrect them if they die..." Kirakishou finished.

Barasuishou asked no more as she thought about it, digging in her memories for any ways or clues to solve this situation.

"Let me show you something." Kirakishou waved at Barasuishou, motioning for Barasuishou to follow her.

Barasuishou bounded onto the riverbank and walked behind Kirakishou inside the castle. Kirakishou opened her mouth and after some soft choking, she pulled out her Rosa Mystica and placed it in her palm.

"Come out my dear." She cooed.

Bright rays of turquoise light shot out from Kirakishou's Rosa Mystica. Barasuishou smiled a slow, sly smile.

"I see."

* * *

_Scarlet: Chapter one is done!  
_

_Gellie:Yep! By the way, "yakult" is kinda like a yougurt-ish drink. I can't explain it really well.  
_

_Scarlet: And this is like the third time we edited this! What's wrong with you Gellie?_

_Gellie: Well... The first time was because there were too many mistakes. The second time was because there were still too many mistakes._

_Scarlet: So what's wrong with this time?_

_Gellie: I forgot to put a few paragraphs in!_

_Scarlet: Gellie!_

_Gellie: Well, it's all perfect now, except we didn't do the disclaimer though.  
_

_Scarlet: Che... Who cares? We already did it once. That's more than enough prove that we don't own this.  
_

_Gellie: True! Plus... Disclaimers get annoying. I mean, isn't it OBVIOUS that we don't own Rozen Maiden?  
_

_Scarlet: Yesh... Indeed. Oh also, Gellie, explain to the readers what Akaihana means._

_Gellie: Okay! It means "red flower," it is also is 赤花 in Chinese.  
_

_Scarlet:Um... Gellie... We don't care what it looks like in Chinese... This is a Japanese name. Baka.  
_

_Gellie:*blushes* Oops... Oh well! Anyways, Read & Review! We really want to know what you think of this story! Is it a bit too crappy? Is it a bit too OC centered? Is it too short? Is it too weird? Is the Japanese too hard to understand? Is it...  
_

_Scarlet: Gellie! SHUSH! So yeah, read and review.  
_

_Gellie: Seeya next chapter! Ja ne~_


	3. Chapter 2: Mirror-rorriM

Chapter 2

«Mirror-rorriM»

* * *

Suigintou opened her eyes, waking up beside Megu's bed. She sensed something almost imperceptible, but she could not define exactly what it was from the shivery, sliding, feeling she perceived.

The doll stood up and looked at the mirror on Megu's table. She reached forward to stroke the flat surface but her fingers hesitated a little, hovering just about the smooth glass. She wondered if she should really use it to go look around. There was no other way to discern whom or what emitted that spine-tingling sensation, but Megu...

The said girl rolled around and faced Suigintou, her blankets slipping and then falling off completely. Suigintou paused, picked up the fallen sheets, and then gently covered Megu with her blankets once again. The human girl smiled at the doll's touch.

"Tenshi-san..." Megu mumbled in her sleep.

Suigintou sighed and walk slowly and quietly to stand in front of the mirror, afraid of waking up her medium.

.

..

...

Jun panted as he lugged the mirror up the stairs. Nori followed him, holding the hot chocolate and cherries Akaihana had wanted.

"Jun, be careful with that mirror, okay? Please don't smash it or anything..." Nori reminded him.

Jun wiped away the sweat that trickled down his jaw and mumbled, "I'm fine."

Nori smiled softly. Seeing Jun working so hard made her happy. He finally had something to do other than sit around in the house and stay on the computer.

Jun carried the mirror up the stairs, through the halls, past the doorway, and plopped right in front of Akaihana.

"Akaihana-chan, I brought the hot chocolate for you!" Nori said, holding up a teapot that emitted the sweet smell of hot chocolate, and poured the desired drink into a cup.

"Here you go!" She said happily as she handed the cup to Akaihana, who took it with a impatient look gleaming in her eyes.

"And I'll put the cherries and yakult here, okay?"

Nori set a big bowl of cherries and a bottle of yakult on a table next to where Akaihana was.

"Ano...I won't bother you and Jun anymore then..." She glanced at the clock," KYA! It's 6 already! I have to shop for the vegetables to make dinner!" The brunette stood up and headed towards the door.

"Wait, Nori."

"Hmmm...?"

"Call Suiseiseki and Souseiseki upstairs. I have something to tell them," said Akaihana, sipping her chocolate.

"Oh... Okay. I understand," Nori answered before she went downstairs, leaving Akaihana to continue enjoy her drink.

She smiled. "I haven't had this drink for a long time. Although this isn't 100% pure cocoa, being able to smell the rich scent of chocolate has already made me happy enough."

She closed her eyes, savoring the taste of the warm drink, looking as though she was floating weightlessly in heaven.

Jun rolled his eyes and snorted. "So, why did you want to me to carry the stupid mirror here?"

The cup was to her lips again so Akaihana couldn't respond. Seeing that she wasn't able answer now, Jun just kept asking different queries, wanting her to answer all his questions one by one later when she was done drinking.

"What really happened to Shinku?

"Are you actually here to revive her?

"By the way, where did Hollier go?"

The doll set her cup down onto the plate and beamed. "I was waiting for this question."

Akaihana dragged four porcelain cups closer to her and poured more of the chocolate delight. She handed Jun a cup and he took it reluctantly, scared that there might be poison mixed in with it. Akaihana sipped her own again.

"I sent Hollier on a special mission. Two missions, actually."

Concluding that the drink was safe, or as safe as it would ever be, Jun swallowed a mouthful of the brown beverage.

"Mission for what?"

Akaihana smiled again. "A mission for calling a person and a mission to get a certain someone here."

"That's not really... clear."

Right at this time, Souseiseki and Suiseiseki entered the room.

"Why did you call us here?" Souseiseki asked. "Will you finally explain to us why you are here?"

Akaihana nodded, promising that she would answer all of their questions soon."I'm going to tell you who I am... And... I want to introduce someone to you."

_Someone? What someone?_ Jun, Souseiseki and Suiseiseki got confused right away. _Don't I, we, already know all the dolls? Of course, there's also Akaihana herself..._

Why did this doll confuse them so much?

A loud whooshing sound of air could be heard from outside.

"Who's there?" Akaihana called, looking at the window. Her alert expression relaxed when she recognized who it was.

"Look, she's here."

Everybody swung their heads toward the window.

They saw a brown, unidentified, flying object crash through the pane.

* * *

The glass shattered and flew all over the place. Everyone stared at the case with wide eyes. So this was what the UFO really was.

The case looked at lot like the trunks that came with the Rozen Maidens, but the embellishment on the top wasn't a rose, instead being a bunch of cherries.

Jun eyed the trunk carefully, hoping deep, deep, down, that the doll inside wouldn't turn out to be a crazy doll just like Akaihana. But with his luck...

"Did you call us up here for this?" Souseiseki asked cautiously.

Even Suiseiseki, normally the more laid back one, had her watering can out and was ready to battle at any minute.

However, the stifling atmosphere didn't seem to affect Akaihana at all. She got up, walked casually to stand in front of the case, and gave it a good, hard, kick.

"Hey! How long are you going to lie there and play possum?" (Gellie: Wow. Akaihana's really violent...)

The people in the room could all hear the yelp of "Owwww!" that transmitted rather clearly even through the thick leather of the trunk.

The top half of the trunk lifted up a smidge, and a pair of teal eyes peered through the crack. They swept the room carefully and when the searching orbs finally landed on Akaihana, they sparkled.

_Pa-tcha!_

The case was flung open, and everyone watched as a brown haired doll pounced on Akaihana and pulled her into a huge bear hug.

"WAHHH! Akaihana! This is great! I missed you so much! We haven't met for SO long! It has been 345 years, 8 months, 50 minutes and 12 seconds!" The doll gushed, grinning ear to ear and rubbing her cheek onto Akaihana's rapidly.

The new doll completely ignored the others in the room, too absorbed in seeing Akaihana.

Akaihana finally pushed the doll away, sighed, and forced a smile.

"There, there. That's enough."

She turned towards Jun and the others.

"Let me introduce you to Cherriru_*_ — Hinaichigo's Rosa Mystica."

Jun's jaw must have shattered with how fast it dropped. Suiseiseki, however, just smiled absentmindedly. "Oh, Chibi-ichigo's Rose Mystica, desu... I see..."

There was a long pause and they slowly processed Akaihana's words. Complete silence flooded the room as everyone tried to absorb this new piece of information.

"EHHHHHHHHH? WAIT A SECOND (DESU)!" Everybody screamed simultaneously when they finally regained their mobility.

.

..

...

Suigintou flew in and out of N-fields, opening door after door, entering porthole after porthole. Nothing. She exited the portal she was currently at.

This wasn't right. The great waves of power didn't come from this door either. In fact, so far, she hadn't seen anything unusual at all, which was curious, pertaining the circumstances.

Suigintou had felt a strong sense of a power that didn't belong to Father or a Rozen Maiden at night. Curious and alert, she decided to find out about it herself. Which brought her to the situation she was in now, searching for the source of it.

A portal floated by and she felt the power strengthen. She frowned.

"Wait... Doesn't this door lead to... Could it be?"

With no hesitation, Suigintou ripped the door open and glanced down at the scene before her.

She saw a violet haired doll that she had never seen before, along with the shadow of someone else behind her. Shinku's stupid medium and the other dolls were gaping at her, shock on their faces.

How... intriguing...

Her suspicion grew when she couldn't find the red form of Shinku anywhere. She leaned forward to have a better look, hoping to find the missing person.

Suddenly, she felt something gave her a hard push from behind.

She gasped, turning around to see who culprit was.

A flash of scarlet light invaded and occupied her vision.

Down Suigintou went, falling straight towards the purple-haired doll.

.

..

...

"What, desu? A Rosa Mystica? This doesn't make any sense, desu!" Suiseiseki asked, her brow creased with doubt.

Cherriru looked at Akaihana with surprise. "Akaihana-chan, you haven't told them yet?"

Akaihana nodded her head and poured out cups of chocolate for Suiseiseki, Souseiseki, and Cherriru.

"Listen to me."

All the people in the room, excluding Cherriru, voiced their assent.

"You should know by now that inside the bodies of every doll is a Rosa Mystica. But another set of dolls Rozen created, at least in a sense. And they are us. The Rosa Mysticas. Rozen made us to let the Rozen Maidens live... longer." She paused, face solemn.

"Rozen wants you, the Rozen Maidens, to live until the_ real_ Alice Game starts.

"What real Alice—" Suiseiseki began but Souseiseki silenced her, telling her wordlessly to just listen.

Thanking Souseiseki's attention with an acknowledging nod, Akaihana continued, "So if any of you die before then, the Rosa Mystica's are responsible for reviving you, because the whole reason we were created was to make and keep our owners alive, as in making them move and talk."

Akaihana sipped from her cup again. "Cherriru and I are both Rosa Mysticas. I am Shinku's, and Cherriru is Hinaichigo's. Because our owners have both died, we are now able to take a doll form in order to resurrect them."

Akaihana finished. Everybody appeared to be overwhelmed by her speech.

Wanting to break the tension, Cherriru glanced around, picked up the huge bowl of cherries that Nori had brought in earlier, and started to eat ravenously. "Ah… I haven't eaten for a few hundred years! I'm starving!"

* * *

Akaihana produced a watch out of a few flying petals of red and yellow. She held it high so that all could see.

Jun scooted over, staring curiously at the watch.

It was the strangest watch he had ever seen. It had countless hands in different colors that were pointing in numerous directions.

"What kind of watch is this?"

"This isn't a watch, it's the Century Clock."

Jun groaned. Why did everything have weird names?

"What is the Centry Clock then?" He said, snapping slightly.

"It's the Century Clock. It is a clock that can point out how much time we have left to revive the dead Rozen Maidens."

Akaihana pointed to a red handle.

"This is Shinku. Each color represents a Rozen Maiden."

Jun nodded, sensing that this may be a mildly delicate subject.

"The material of the handle is similar to the material of a Rosa Mystica. It has a great relationship with the power of a Rozen Maiden's consciousness. It also has a huge resistance to magnets. If the power, the strength of their consciousness, of the Rozen Maiden lessens, the resistance will weaken and the handle will slowly be sucked towards the magnet."

Her finger pointed to a gray block on the top where a normal clock's "12" would usually be situated. Jun guessed that it was the magnet and instinctively knew that he was correct.

"The time it takes for a handle to be attracted to the magnet can vary. Sometimes it is a year, a month, a week, or even just a day." The doll then pointed to Jun the symbols that represented year, month, week and day.

"If the handle is completely attracted to the magnet and is lying flat down on it, it means that there will be _no hope_ for the dying Maiden."

"How much time is there left for Shinku and Chibi Ichigo then, desu?" Suiseiseki asked, looking hopeful.

"There's still three months until Shinku's handle will be on the magnet. Hinaichigo only has two weeks and there are only five weeks left of time for us to find the real body of Souseiseki. Also—"

Just then, the surface of the mirror started to ripple, and the sleeve of a black, gothic, dress began coming out of the mirror.

Suigintou face-planted right in front of all of them.

"..."

Everyone was taken aback by the sudden, strange, appearance of Suigintou. It was unusual for her to enter like this, seeing as she was very haughty. Everybody's eyes were popping out, except for Akaihana, whose face was awkwardly calm.

Hollier flew out of the mirror too, and bounced merrily in front of Akaihana, looking proud of itself.

Akaihana sighed.

"Hollier, I know I asked you to bring Suigintou here, but next time could you please be gentler? She's a noble Rozen Maiden after all."

Jun's eyes widened as he tried to calculate what this new development might mean. Wait, so it was Hollier who pushed Suigintou through the mirror... could it be? Perhaps both Shinku's and Akaihana's penchant for violence had rubbed off on the artificial spirit?

Meanwhile, Suigintou was slowly getting up, her whole body still throbbing from the act of falling straight onto the floor. She scanned the room and her eyes stopped at Akaihana and Cherriru.

"What's going on here?" She questioned as she turned to the new dolls in the room, "And you are...?" she hissed.

Suigintou trailed off, leaving a space for them to fill in the blanks. Her eyes narrowed even more when she saw that Akaihana and Cherriru both looked rather happy, or at least as happy as Akaihana could get.

"No wonder you are the first Rozen Maiden, seeing as you could feel our presence right away."

At this, Suigintou gaped at Akaihana and looked as though she were contemplating whether or not to send a few feathers after her.

"Don't worry, Suigintou. We mean no harm and have no intention of joining the Alice Game." Akaihana said smoothly.

"I am Shinku's Rosa Mystica..." And then she went on to explain the reasons they were there.

Suigintou still didn't believe the two newcomers. They had no proof and could be just setting them all up to just knock them to the ground while they slept.

"Tell me then, how can you prove that our Rosa Mysticas can turn into dolls?" Suigintou questioned, albeit slightly threateningly.

At this, Akaihana's face broke into a small smile.

"We'll use you to prove it, of course!"

Underneath Akaihana's feet appeared an array of symbols.

_"I, Akaihana, the thirteenth Rozen Maiden, fifth Rosa Mystica, declare my right to summon another Rosa Mystica. Please allow me to call out the Rosa Mystica of Suigintou."_

Akaihana's voice was low, eerie, and majestic, as if she was chanting a magic spell.

Black, white, and gradient gray rose petals floated and fluttered throughout the room. Akaihana quickly caught a petal with two fingers and lightly stuck it on Suigintou's forehead.

'What are you doing?" Suigintou asked impatiently, her hand rising to settle on her brow.

Akaihana however, didn't answer. Instead, she caught Suigintou's hand and set it back down to her side and continued her summoning ritual.

_"Come out, Yukihani*!"_

Oddly, the weird, spontaneous, ritual seemed to work, and the Rosa Mystica floated lightly out of Suigintou. More strangely still was how Suigintou didn't die, even though her Rosa Mystica was bobbing around outside of her.

The Rosa Mystica shot out black and white rays of light that spun around the source, weaving between each other, before finally beginning to die down and slowly revealing a doll.

This doll was much shorter than Suigintou herself. Two white bunny ears sat perched on her head, which was tilted in a questioning way. She had long black hair with a curve and a bounce at the end, and sharp green eyes that shone brightly. She wore a gray overcoat on top of a white, puffy, dress, with a cute bunny placed right underneath her collar, and matching shoes that each had a bunny stuck on them too. The weirdest part of her get up, though, were the white, bushy, fluffy, wings she had.

A bunny angel.

That's whom Suigintou's Rosa Mystica was—A bunny angel named Yukihani.

Yukihani's innocent, big, eyes were close to mimicking an owl's. She slowly trotted towards Akaihana as Akaihana's face went chalk white. She didn't seem to like Yukihani very much and looked afraid of the fact that Yukihani was going to hug her.

Much to everyone's surprise, Yukihani brushed right past Akaihana, and began running faster and faster.

She was heading straight for Suigintou.

"SWUIGINTOU-SAMWA, DEYO!" The exuberant cry was probably heard by all the people in the country and maybe even the next.

Yukihani made as if to hug Suigintou, but the target narrowly avoided her, and Yukihani face-vaulted into the ground, much like Suigintou had done earlier. But instead of groaning, she laughed.

"Swuigintou-samwa! Thank you, deyo! It was very nice of you to let me hug Mr. Floor!"

Akaihana softly jogged over to where Suigintou was and whispered to her, "Yukihani was made to be a very cute doll, but when you're her friend, or she decides that she wants to be friends with someone, she can stick to your side with the tenacity of a barnacle. She also has a mischievous side that likes to tease people, and she's also very... optimistic... or positive, if you like, as you have seen already."

Suigintou had an innate feeling that with this Rosa Mystica doll would be very annoying. And she would stay by her side. All. The. Time.

Suigintou was doomed. Utterly, irrefutably, doomed.

Yukihani chose this moment to get up from her cuddle-fest with the floor. "Swuigintou-samwa, deyo! Huggwie!"

The little bunny girl finally managed to wrap her beloved "Swuigintou-samwa" in an entirely one-sided hug. And then, well, Suigintou lost the remnants of her patience with this irritating doll.

With a loud swish, she battered Yukihani away using her wings. Yukihani went flying across the room, crashing straight into the window before sliding with a screechy sound to the floor.

Cherriru winced, knowing that it must have hurt. The afflicted doll, however, seemed to have a rather... _different_ opinion.

"Wow! Swuigintou-samwa is actually using her own wings to hug me, deyo! I'm so moved!"

Everyone gave her a deadpan glance as sweat-drops rolled down their temples.

Isn't that a little bit_ too _positive?

* * *

**Cherriru:****_ Cherri_ means cherry, _ru_ means dew, so Cherriru is Cherry Dew  
**

**Yukihani:_ Yuki_ is snow and_ hani_ means honey or candy; so her name means Snow Honey  
**

Gellie: Yeah! We are done!

Scarlet: BUT WHY ISN'T ANYBODY REVIEWING?

Gellie: Because they are a bunch of lazy a...No! I mean lazy butts!

Scarlet: Looks who swearing now~

Gellie: PAH~!

Scarlet: CHE~!

Gellie: PAH~! Is awesome!

Scarlet: CHE~! Is better!

Gellie: THE READERS WON'T LIKE READING OUR ARGUMENTS!

Scarlet: I GUESS YOU ARE RIGHT!

Gellie: STOP SHOUTING THEN!

Scarlet: YOU FIRST!

Gellie: YOU FIRST!

Scarlet: CHE~!

Gellie: PAH~!

Scarlet: CHE~! Is better!

Gellie: PAH~! Is awesome!

Scarlet: THE END!

Gellie: THAT'S RIGHT!

Scarlet: Yeah, whatever.


	4. Chapter 3: Sude!

Chapter 3

«Sude!»

* * *

"Wow Yukihani! You're amazing! How can you remember all the recipes needed to make so many different sweets?" Nori exclaimed.

Yukihani opened the oven and took out a pink cake that smelled like heaven.

"Ah, it's nothing, deyo!" she piped cheerfully. "It's just that I love eating sweet things, so in order to eat a variety of desserts, I learned to bake them all, deyo! And then I taught myself to create recipes on the fly!"

Yukihani set the cake onto the table, and Nori took out the icing they had prepared beforehand.

"Putting strawberries, cherries, and chocolate together to make a cake is very creative, Yukihani." Nori complimented and began icing the cake.

Yukihani smiled a sweet, sweet, smile, like the desserts she adored so dearly, and began to help Nori spread the icing all over the baked treat.

"Yukihani, you put all the things that people here in our household like to eat into one cake, and you did it very carefully too! Akaihana loves chocolate, Hinaichigo and Suiseiseki worship strawberries, Cherriru adores cherries, and in the icing you even put a bit of that yakult Suigintou-san likes so much!" Nori said.

Yukihani's face light up with a blissful, peaceful, smile.

"I did this because Yukihani loves everybody here, so I want to see everyone's happy faces when they eat a dessert that has their favorite sweets in them. And I smile, because this way, I hope my smile will spread and then all the people I love will smile."

Yukihani became silent for a while, sinking deeper and deeper into her thoughts, her smile gradually disappearing.

"But... no matter what I do, Suigintou never smiles for me… for anybody…"

She suddenly appeared rather lost and depressed, her mood nothing like the hyperactive demeanor she usually had.

Watching the sad Yukihani, Nori had to do something. So quietly, softly, gently, slowly, she patted the top of the doll's head.

"Don't worry Yukihani-chan. With a cheerful and happy person like you around, Suigintou will smile. Definitely."

Hearing these comforting words, Yukihani perked up again. Maybe not completely, but she was getting there.

"You're right! That must be it, deyo! So, in light of this new revelation, I must go play with her again! Off I go, deyo!" And with that, she raced off.

Nori grinned, glad to see Yukihani back to her playful self.

"Yukihani really is a pure and honest child."

* * *

Suigintou was in a terrible mood because a certain very annoying Yukihani was glued to her. She had attempted to return to Megu's side but had failed every time. This was because every time when she showed signs of leaving her Rosa Mystica… well…

"SWUIGINTOU-SAMWA! DEYO! Don't leave me here alone! WAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

…She would wail an accusing phrase so loud that the whole galaxy and maybe even the next could hear it.

And with that, everybody knew that she was going to sneak back and made it even more impossible to leave. Suigintou found it uncomfortable to work in the light; she had always preferred the shadows.

Suigintou thought about how worried Megu would be, and probably was, when she woke up and found her gone. She had to admit that she really liked Megu.

She wanted to heal her, so that she could be happy like any other bubbly teenage girl, so that she could grow up with a bright smile on her face, so that she could be a singer someday. Megu did have the voice to be one after all and she was talented.

The doll sighed and curled up to a ball.

Suigintou craned her next to look upward, observing to stars. She heard the sliding of someone open the window from below and climbing up.

Her eyes flicked down. With a moan of dread that she stifled hastily, she recognized the bunny ears and concluded that it was Yukihani.

The doll took a seat by Suigintou and cocked her head, watching Suigintou intently. She giggled lightly.

"Swuigintou-samwa likes yakult, right, deyo?" She laughed, and brought out a bottle of yakult from behind her back.

Suigintou just ignored her. Yukihani wasn't worth wasting her precious time over.

"Even if you don't admit it, you do like it. I know that. Yukihani knows, deyo. Because I'm your Rwosa Mystica!"

Suigintou closed her eyes, trying to control her anger.

She could mildly tolerate the stupid brat now, simply because of the fact she was beside all the time, annoying her every second. Everyone has to adapt and go with the flow sometime.

"I will never like strange sour drinks like the one that you're holding up right now," she retorted.

"Mou… Don't be so arrogant. You like it, don't you, deyo?"

Suigintou supported her chin with her hand and gave Yukihani a look that said You-Are-Really-Annoying. Yukihani just blinked innocently back, making Suigintou groan. Yukihani was TOO naive; any and all insults just rolled off her like water off a duck's back.

Even though she knew she was pissing her owner off, Yukihani still had a smile on her face as she looked at her.

"Well, then, if you don't want to drink it, then I'll drink it for you, deyo!" said the smaller doll, and she turned herself a bit to the side.

Yukihani raised the drink _s-l-o-w-l-y_ up to her mouth.

Suigintou's face flushed a bit, and she tried to contain the drool that kept threatening to expose her secret. Still, her eyes followed the yakult's every move.

Yukihani swiveled her head back and beamed at Suigintou, who was staring at the yakult like a person desperate for water.

"Hey, Swuigintou-samwa, deyo! Are you_ suuuuure_ you don't want to drink it? You're drooling, deyo!"

Suigintou avoided Yukihani's all-knowing gaze, although she would never tell the annoying-little-rabbit-obsessed girl that thought, and quickly swiped at the wetness at the corners of her mouth.

She peeked at the yakult one time... Two times...

She couldn't stand it anymore. Snatching the yakult from Yukihani, Suigintou ripped off the top, and with a "glug glug glug" chugged it all down. Yukihani sat at the side grinning a big smile while Suigintou was busy with her yakult.

"Why did you buy this company's yakult? It's so small. Buy the bigger ones next time." Suigintou ordered, still trying to redeem her image.

"Understand! I will buy the bigger ones next time, deyo!"

* * *

"Ne, Akaihana, desu! I wanna see what my Rosa Mystica looks like too, desu!" Suiseiseki said to the doll sitting next to her.

Akaihana just sat there placidly, acting like she hadn't heard what the green doll had just said, reading a book.

"Hey, desu! Someone's asking you a question here! Desu! Why aren't you answering me?" Suiseiseki huffed as she stole Akaihana's book.

Eager to see what book was so interesting, she peeped at the spine of the book and read the name emblazoned on there. "_Twilight_, desu? What's that?"

Akaihana stood up. "Give me back my book! Bella is in great danger right now—_her blood is going to be sucked!_ Edward has to reach Bella soon or it will be too late for both of them!"

Suiseiseki deliberately and stubbornly held onto the book. "What's so great about a book that has two ugly white hands holding an apple on the cover, desu? What does that guy in the book do, anyways? Shove apples into other people's mouth, desu? That's not interesting at all! Pay attention to me! I wanna see my Rosa Mystica! DESU!"

Souseiseki walked by, drawn out and clued in by the amount of noise they were making. She took the book from Suiseiseki and handed it to Akaihana. "Suiseiseki, calm down. Wait till Akaihana is free and then ask again." Souseiseiki advised her sister.

"Don't bother to wait! Yukihani can help you there, deyo!" Yukihani skipped and bounced up to the trio.

"Really? Thank you, de—"

Suddenly, Yukihani reached up and pulled down Suiseiseki's ear, with Suiseiseki yelping all the way. Then she yelled, "Hey, Suiseiseki's Rosa Mystica, deyo! Come out and play with us!"

Suiseiseki's ear really hurt, but once she saw her own Rosa Mystica fly out of her body, she forgot all about the stinging and decided to not harbor any bitter resentment.

Her Rosa Mystica glowed a shade of dark spring green, icy blue, and a soft, shimmering, silver as the brilliance flooded the room.

Immediately an orange-flame haired doll wearing a green, blue, and silver maid uniform, just like the light, appeared in front of them. Her silvery eyes darted around nervously.

Akaihana finally closed the book and lifted her head to see Suiseiseki's Rosa Mystica.

"Tsukigin*?" she said, slightly shocked as she addressed the new doll. She looked around, searching for the symbols of summoning on the ground, found nothing, and saw Yukihani.

"Yukihani, don't tell me you used that technique that involved grabbing someone's ear and then shouting out the summoning ritual..."

Tsukigin ducked behind Akaihana, slightly embarrassed. Jun and Nori chose this moment to come in with the cake.

"Eh? Who's this?" Nori asked, putting down the completed cake on the table.

Jun's face darkened.

"Ugh! Another one!"

Tsukigin was so scared that she burrowed into Akaihana's back and refused to speak.

"Orokana Jun, this one is especially shy and timid among us Rosa Mysticas. Take care around her and don't to frighten her."

Jun cast his mind around.

"I think I've heard that somewhere before..."

_"Jun, Suiseiseki is one the shyest and most timid among the sisters. Will you take care around her and try not to frighten her?"_

Yup, he's heard that line before.

* * *

"Ouch! Desu! Why are you pulling my hair, you orange chibi head, desu?"

Nori, who was doing the dishes, stuck her head out of the kitchen and asked, "What's going on?"

Tsukigin quickly grabbed Suiseiseki's hand and placed it onto her throat. "AH! Help me Nori, sude! Suiseiseki is going to kill me, sude!"

Seeing this Nori quickly threw Suiseiseki away from Tsukigin and wrapped her arms protective around the fake-crying flame haired girl. Her anger rose when she saw the scratch marks on the doll's throat.

"Suiseiseki! I can't believe that you have lowered to this level! How can you hurt your own Rosa Mystica! How cruel can you be? I forbid you from eating anything related to strawberries for a month!"

Suiseiseki had a hurt look on her face. "But it isn't my fault, desu..."

Nori didn't seem care about what the green doll had to say. She spun around and trudged back to the kitchen.

Once Nori was gone, Tsukigin turned her head to Suiseiseki with a sneer on her face. Suiseiseki's blood boiled. "Because of YOU, I can't eat strawberries for month, desu! You evil orange-haired witch!"

Tsukigin looked at the green doll with a gloating look. She opened a box of strawberry flavored pocky and walked back and forth in front of Suiseiseki while taking in big mouthfuls of the flavored sticks.

"Mmmmm… Delicious… So sweet, sude!"

Poor Suiseiseki was so gluttonous that she was going mad. Because of Nori's restrictions, she wasn't allowed to go up, snatch it and eat it! This thought made her even angrier, for she had not choked the other doll on purpose. She quickly tried to think up an insult.

"Listen, you tangerine head, desu! Aren't you embarrassed? You have even more serious pet phrase problems then me, desu! (A/N Gellie: So you actually know that you do) I mean seriously, what do you mean by _'sude sude',_ desu（Gellie: see here we go again)."

Tsukigin's eyes burned white hot like fire.

"What did you say, sude?"

"See see! You are saying that again, desu!"

Tsukigin was nearly seething. "So? Don't you always say_ 'desu?_' How can you actually have time to scold me when your pet phrase problem is serious too, sude!"

Suiseiseki snorted mockingly. "Che~ So? Its not like I'm the only one that says "desu", desu. Suu from Shugo Chara says it too! DESU!"

Tsukigin went silent, fishing for a good retort. Her silver eyes lit up as she got it.

"Well, that's because she's brainless... just like you! SUDE!"

Suiseiseki wasn't planning to lose in the bickering battle either.

"The pronunciation of my desu is 'Deh-su' and you can find this listed and written in Japanese kanji as です, desu! But your _'sude_' doesn't exist in any language in the world!"

Tsukigin's face was flushed with anger. Suiseiseki was right; her 'sude' wasn't an actual word. But that didn't mean she couldn't use it! Besides, old habits were hard to break, and this particular habit she actually liked. She stepped up to the green doll and slapped Suiseiseki with all the strength she could.

"I just like saying _'sude.'_ Who are you to be nitpicking about what other people like to do?"

Clutching her cheek, an outraged Suiseiseki whipped out her watering can. "Sui Dream, desu!"

Water shot across to splatter Tsukigin but the doll twisted skillfully away. The water splashed onto the sofa instead and caused a tall tree to grow out of it immediately.

"Tch! I can do what you can do, sude! Take my _Sui Nightmare_, sude!" Tsukigin formed a water hose out of a few rose petals and blasted a huge stream of water at Suiseiseki.

Suiseiseki gasped in surprise and was rushed away by the force of the water before she could react.

Nori heard the sound of the ceiling splintering, due to the tree, and the sound of water. Not wasting any time, she quickly ran outside to see what was going on.

"OH MY GOSH!" she screamed when she saw the ruckus in front of her.

* * *

The wet clothes of Suiseiseki and Tsukigin hung outside, dripping water.

"You two, really. Don't be so childish will you? It's not ladylike to be behave this way." Akaihana scolded, rubbing Tsukigin's orange curls dry with a towel.

Tsukigin and Suiseiseki were wrapped in towels, naked, for even their undergarments were drenched. Not minding how hilarious they looked, both of them still sent murderous glares to each other.

"I wasn't being childish, sude! It's Suiseiseki that is childish!" rebelled Tsukigin.

"No no no! That's not true, desu! You are the childish one!" Suiseiseki argued back.

Souseiseki, who came in to see what the fuss was all about, sighed in synchronization Akaihana.

"Please stop arguing. It will bring trouble to Master. Be a good girl, please?"

The mature Souseiseki patted Suiseiseki and Tsukigin's heads gently. Both of the wet dolls blushed.

"Neh… Souseiseki-kun, desu~ Do you like me more or do you like Tsukigin more?"

Hearing this, even Tsukigin's eyes glowed with a strange light. Seeing the situation had quickly turned to something... that she thought was lesbian, Akaihana stood up abruptly.

"Um... I will get some dry clothes for you," she said, dismissing herself and retreating from the bathroom.

"Say say! Who do you like better, desu!" Suiseiseki urged.

"Say it! Sude!"

"Say it! Desu!"

Souseiseki felt very awkward.

"Um... Ugh... Nnngh… " She mumbled, fidgeting. Souseiseki glanced at Lempika for some help, any help, but saw a strange thing happening with the artificial spirit.

Lempika was flying with shaky motions and in a wobbly path, looking mad. It almost seemed as though it were imitating Berrybell, but the annoyed aura it radiated said differently. It poked and nagged Souseiseki and Tsukigin now and then short-temperately.

"Eh? What's wrong with Lempika, desu? Why is it mad?"

Tsukigin smirked and flicked at Lempika with her finger.

"Maybe... I think Lempika is jealous," she jeered and poked it again.

Hearing this Lempika's light flickered on and off unsteadily.

"See, it's blushing, sude," Tsukigin chuckled.

As if to tease Lempika more, Tsukigin hugged Souseiseki and stuck her tongue out Lempika.

Not wanting to lose, Suiseiseki hugged her sister too.

Lempika tinted slightly pink and began hopping around even more crazily.

Souseiseki sighed.

Looks like Souseiseki, for some stupid reason, had earned two little sisters and two pursuers, if you want to look at it that way.

* * *

Jun's neck hurt. A lot. He tried flipping over on his bed, and ended up falling and slamming onto the ground, hard. Right. He wasn't sleeping in a bed anymore.

He had been confined to the sofa for days and it had made his body stiff, for he couldn't stretch his legs.

The first day Akaihana had come to his house, she had chased him downstairs with the words: "You are just a common, lowly, servant. It is not proper etiquette for you to share a room with the ladies! Now shoo, shoo, you pervert, or I'll smack you down the stairs with my ribbons!"

In the end, Jun had to take the sofa because it was extremely dangerous to sleep on the floor. The sleepwalkers, Suiseiseki and Tsukigin, would have trampled him as they wandered around.

And so Akaihana got to sleep comfortably in_ HIS_ bed and change into nightgowns when she slept.

Like a human.

Yukihani, Tsukigin and Cherriru had the same habit of changing before they sleep; the difference between was that Yukihani and Suigintou slept on the roof (Suigintou thought downstairs was too noisy), Tsukigin and Suiseiseki fought for the case (the unlucky Suiseiseki had been sleeping on the floor for days) and Cherriru shared Jun's bed with Akaihana (because she often had nightmares, not that the tall, cherry loving, doll would tell Jun what they were about).

Jun got up, his back aching for the fourth consecutive day. It was finally morning time, and Jun's painful, sleepless, rest was over. He got up and dressed in his school uniform. (Scarlet: At this point in time, he's already started school! Cha!)

Then, somewhere in his muddled brain, he processed the fact that it was the weekend. Groaning, he peeled of his uniform and wore his usual hoodie instead. He grabbed his cup, toothbrush and toothpaste that he always left at the corner on the sofa and went upstairs to the bathroom to wash.

He was bewildered to find Akaihana holding Tsukigin in a choke hold and stuffing a toothbrush into her mouth.

Tsukigin coughed and choked on the bubbles from her toothpaste. "I don't want... cough cough... to... sude! This hurts, sude!"

Akaihana finally realized that she was strangling her friend and let go. The other doll tumbled to the ground gasping. After she recovered, she meekly retrieved the toothbrush from a stern looking Akaihana and started brushing obediently, water still overflowing from her eyes.

"What are you doing?" Jun said, knocking Akaihana out of his way.

He noticed a fainted Cherriru lying at his feet. She must have been tortured until she was anoxic by Akaihana too.

"None of us have brushed our teeth in about a hundred years, seeing as we haven't materialized once since then. Although we can't drool and have no saliva, we still have to eat. If we don't brush our teeth, they will rot, maybe mold, and even grow fungi!"

Jun sweat dropped. That seemed like a bit too much exaggeration.

"So, we decided together that every Sunday that we have bodies, we would all brush our teeth. Everyone else did, but Tsukigin and Cherriru refused to. However, they're fine and agreeable now," Akaihana said.

Jun looked at the knocked out Cherriru and thought about the battle he had witnessed.

He blinked. _Akaihana's version of "fine and agreeable" is very wide..._

Tsukigin finished brushing her teeth, and ran away with tears dripping down her cheeks.

"I'm going to find my sister and I'm going to her that you are being mean to me, sude!" She said, sobbing.

Akaihana smiled a satisfied smile, grabbed the still unconscious Cherriru, and dragged the limp body downstairs with her to eat breakfast.

Tsukigin went straight to Souseiseki, teary eyed, and said to her, "I want to summon my sister!"

The softhearted Souseiseki just nodded, agreeing.

Magical symbols appeared under Tsukigin's feet.

_"I, Tsukigin, the eleventh Rozen Maiden, sude, third Rosa Mystica, declare my right to summon another Rosa Mystica. Please allow me to call out my sister, sude!" _she said, forcing her voice to be low like Akaihana's was when the other doll had uttered the ritual.

_"Come out! Tsukikin*! Sude!"_

Souseiseki's Rosa Mystica drifted out of Souseiseki's body and emitted a rather strange combination of raspberry, beige, and gold light. Like all the other Rosa Mysticas, the colors consolidated to form a doll.

Tsukikin, Souseiseki's Rosa Mystica, was Tsukigin's older sister. She had the same eye shape as Tsukigin, except that her eyes were golden. Curly, carmine, hair reached below a few inches below her shoulders. She had a same style hat that Souseiseki had but it looked more like a headdress than a hat as it was smaller, topping the crown of her head. Her long dress was poofy and was shaped as a rose in full bloom. She looked very girly.

"Nee-chan! Sude!"

Tsukikin avoided Tsukigin's tackle-hug.

"Get away from me! You're going to make my dress dirty with your tears, and this is a limited edition of Rozen-Made Products™!"

Tsukigin looked hurt by this rebuke, and stole into the Emo Corner to sit and sulk.

Tsukikin finally noticed Souseiseki, and swept her into a hug.

"Souseiseki," Tsukikin said with feeling, "WHY ARE YOU SO UGLY? WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?"

* * *

"Wow! There are so many new pretty dolls! Minna! Let's all change and become prettier!" Mitsu squealed, looking ecstatic because of the number of dolls she could dress up.

Mitsu suddenly hugged Suigintou and force-fitted her into a pink, sweet Lolita outfit.

Suigintou struggled, gathered her strength, and aimed a kick strong enough at Mitsu to make her let go. Once the human's hands were off her, she flew away at the speed of light.

Even though she had gotten kicked, the expression on Mitsu was still dreamy and flattered. It was just a matter of time when she saw Yukihani.

"Such cute little bunny ears!" Mitsu enthused, pinching said ears.

"Konnichiwa~ I'm Yukihani, deyo! Do you want some cake?" Yukihani chirped sweetly.

Mitsu opened her mouth and received an enormous chunk of cake. "So delicious! I'm so happy, to be able to be fed by cute dolls!" she said, mouth bulging with pastry.

Yukihani was soon changed in a blur into dress that had adorable black lace rimming the ends and lilies on the fabric.

Akaihana looked vexed as she stared at her dress uncomfortably.

"I think this is showing to much," she voiced awkwardly.

The purple haired doll was wearing a fancy V-neck evening gown that exposed her back fearlessly. She glanced behind every her now and then; worrying if the dress was so showy it verged on embarrassing.

"It's fine. In fact, it's very _seeexy,_ deyo!" Yukihani teased while organizing her hair.

Akaihana's cheeks turned red. She hated to be complimented like this for she had always disliked perverts.

"What did you say? You said that on purpose, right? To piss me off, right? It's not that... um.._. sexy_... Is it?"

When Tsukikin saw Akaihana's dress, her eyes widened with envy.

"It's SOOOOO sexy! Oh my gosh! It's a perfect S-shape! It really draws out the curves of the chest and back! I want one too!"

"What S-shape?! And it's not like I want to wear it!" Akaihana snapped, temper flaring.

This was exactly what Tsukikin wanted to hear. "So you don't want it then? Oh-ho-ho! Then strip it down now and give it to me!"

She didn't even wait for Akaihana to acknowledge her before reaching over and starting to tear the dress off Akaihana's body. "This looks fun, deyo! I wanna play too!" Yukihani chimed in.

Akaihana boiled, bubbled, and then burst with fury. She morphed a gun with rose embellishments out of lace, pointed the gun at them, and fired rapidly.

Tsukikin scurried away frantically, avoiding all the bullets, a fearful expression on her face. A wail tore out of her mouth. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! NONONONONO! DON'T YOU DARE!"

Everybody stared at Tsukikin in puzzlement. What was up with her?

"DON'T YOU **DARE** SHOOT HOLES IN MY DRESS!" (A/N: Gellie: so you do cherish your life... Scarlet: More like her clothes...)

Yukihani didn't fear death, but when she saw Tsukikin running away, she started screaming too.

"Retreating issh SOOOO fun! Deyo!"

_Crack!_ With nothing else to hit, Akaihana's bullets ended up battering the ceiling fiercely. The sound of something breaking brought Nori running out of the kitchen.

"OH MY GOSH! THE CEILING! IT'S BROKEN AGAIN!" The high school girl shrieked.

* * *

**Tsukigin: _"Tsuki"_ means moon and _"gin"_ is silver, same with Sui-_gin-_tou. So _"Tsukigin"_ is Moon Silver.**

**Tsukikin: You know what _"tsuki"_ means already. _"Kin"_ means gold. Tsukikin= Moon Gold.  
**

Gellie: Hi everybody! Scarlet isn't here because we aren't together now so we can't write a A/N together. Anyways...Comments? Criticizes? Compliments? Mental breakdowns? We would really like to know.

Edit 1: Scarlet: Ha! I'm here now. :PPPPPP_  
_

_Edit 2: Anyways, you may have noticed that Tsukikin's design is really fleshed out (she's the doll with the red hair and the love of clothes) but we just wrote about the barest frameworks of Tsukigin (she has silver eyes and the "sude" pet phrase). That's because Tsukigin's design isn't stable yet; once it is I'll badger Gellie to change it. Thanks!  
_

_AND GELLIE! FINISH DRAWING TSUKGIN! SERIOUSLY!  
_


	5. Chapter 4: Alexipharmic

Chapter 4

«Alexipharmic»

* * *

Kanaria was grieving.

"Shinku is gone, kashira. I see."

Souseiseki and Suiseiseki were staring at the ground. It was hard enough to break the news to Kanaria and it was even harder to lock gazes with her now.

"Yes, she is, desu," Suiseiseki said softly.

Kanaria's heart ached with extreme pain; a feeling that made her want to bawl her eyes out. She once again felt the same terrible emotion when Hinaichigo had been defeated in the Alice game.

"Say... do you think the Rosa Mysticas can really save both of them, kashira?"

The twins locked gazes with each by looking at the other from the corner of their eyes. Neither of them knew how to answer her question.

Everybody just sat there in silence, mourning the dead dolls. Without any notice, Kanaria burst into tears.

_Eight dolls. _

Suigintou. Kanaria. Suiseiseki. Souseiseki. Shinku. Hinaichigo. Kirakishou. And Barasuishou._  
_

_Two are dead... _

Shinku and Hinaichigo were gone.

_...One is dying._

Souseiseki's life was ticking away too, for her replica body could not last as long as her real one and Suigintou could claim her Rosa Mystica back at any time.

A heavy sob was heard from Kanaria.

Kanaria only realized now what the real Alice Game was about. Before, she just traveled around to see the others, boasted about her brains and talked how all the Rosa Mysticas would be hers. Now, she had finally become aware of how difficult it was to live and how lucky they were to be living.

The yellow doll understood at last why Shinku refused to join the battle. But even though the red doll had advocated peace, Shinku eventually went mental because of the fighting and started trying to stop it at all means...

... _Which led to her death._

Kanaria gulped. There were so many things that she didn't know before. Why was she so timid and naive? Why wasn't she braver? She could have changed everything if she had not cowered, if she had not been scared that she might lose her own life. She was too selfish.

"Don't cry, Kannagi..." She heard Hinaichigo's voice.

The gray-haired doll wiped at her eyes, whipped her head up and looked up to see who had just talked.

It was that tall doll Souseiseki had introduced as Cherriru, looking at her, smiling Hinaichigo's smile. She looked like she was possessed, her eyes blank and glassy.

Kanaria gasped. Maybe... Perhaps this Cherriru was currently hosting Hinaichigo's spirit!

"Kannagi, I'm very happy here. I don't need to fight. I can just play happily! You don't need to worry about me at all... I'm fine... and plus, I have..."

Before she could finish, Hinaichigo had left Cherriru's body in the next second, and Cherriru's mind came to the front.

"Is Hinaichigo gone?"

She looked around and saw Suiseiseki and Souseiseki comforting Kanaria, who was on the ground and bawling.

"Hinaichigo, kashira! I miss you so much, I... I... I... Waaahhhh!"

Cherriru walked over to the trio and couched down.

"Hello, Kanaria. I am Hinaichigo's Rosa Mystica, Cherriru. Please don't worry about my owner; I will do everything in my power to bring her back."

Kanaria glared at her, silently conveying the message that she didn't trust Cherriru. _Why? _Her gaze seemed to demand.

"Because she is someone important to me too." Cherriru said, and she pulled Kanaria into a hug.

.

..

...

Barasuishou was running.

"Almost there... Almost there..." she breathed.

She had to be quick, otherwise she might not be able to make the deadline.

She came in front of a huge, iron door. This door had no keyhole, no handle, but it had a strange shaped small hole. Not wanting to waste time, she snatched a crystal quickly from her hair and stabbed it into the hole.

There was the clicking and churning sounds of clockwork and the door creaked open. Barasuishou replaced the crystal back to her hair and entered, closing the door deftly behind her. She set her foot into the hall.

The great hall was huge, more than a mile, and had countless staircases. Some led upwards and some let downwards. There were more than trillions of them.

_"Oh, my, my...The daughter is back again."_ A burst of deafening ridicule started up.

Barasuishou paid no attention to the laughter. Laplace was being provocative again, but she didn't care. She had more important things to attend to.

She walked into the hall and scanned all the staircases, searching for the one she needed to go up.

Every staircase had a number, and every staircase lead to a different N-Field or a different exit of a N-field.

"Staircase, staircase number 10002567..." she muttered.

Her eyes slid past every single plaque as she counted under her breath.

10002564, 10002565, 10002566… **10002567!**

There it was!

She kept running; the staircase was like a corkscrew, going up and up in circles. Up and up the doll climbed, not even stopping when her "legs" were sore or to take a breath. She had to use the time she had been given wisely.

At last, she was on the top. Joy flooded her heart.

She stalked up to a wall that was made of streaming water.

Using her hands, she brushed out a few patterns on the surface, forming ripples of all shapes and sizes. Her strokes were in order and practiced, as though she was typing in a password.

At the last swish of her finger, the water disappeared and was replaced by a door. She threw the door open with a grunt and scampered in.

She arrived in a beautiful garden full of purple roses. Gently opening the gate, she picked a few blooming roses. Holding the flowers she had plucked, she kept walking until she arrived at a warm-looking wooden house.

Barasuishou pushed open the door, walked into the kitchen, and saw a pot on top of the stove, full of already made soup. The purple doll took the lid off, used a spoon to scoop up a taste, and drank it.

"Good, the soup's ready." She ladled out a bowl of soup and carried it upstairs.

She arrived to the front of a room and opened the door.

A man lay on the bed, his face yellow like wax. He was weak and it seemed painful for him to even breathe.

Barasuishou placed the soup down on a small table beside the bed. She slid her freshly picked roses into a vase that was there too and arranged them.

Hearing the rustle of the flowers, the person waked up. He moved his head slowly to the side, saw Barasuishou and smiled weakly.

"You came," he croaked and instantly launched into a burst out of intense coughing.

Barasuishou briskly went up and massaged his back, helping him catch his breath.

"Yes, I'm here, Father," she said tenderly.

If anyone else saw him, none of them would ever suspect that this sickly man was once Enju, a person once full of life, strength, and ambition.

"Here, drink this soup. It's warm and you'll feel better," Barasuishou said as she picked up the bowl of soup she had brought and started to feed Enju.

He drank it all obediently while at the same time praising Barasuishou. "Barasuishou, you're quite good at cooking! This soup is very delicious."

Barasuishou smiled and finished feeding him his soup. Once Enju was done drinking, he lay back down, and Barasuishou turned around and prepared to exit.

The sick man couldn't help but ask, "Are you leaving?"

Barasuishou nodded and crouched down by the edge of the bed, letting Enju pat her head gently. "Yes, because the time that Kirakishou gave me to let me see you is limited."

Enju's face fell.

"Don't worry though, Father, I'll come back soon," Barasuishou consoled, her nonexistent heart hurting at the expression on her father's face.

Barasuishou disappeared for a few seconds and came back with a doll in her arms. She took out a key and inserted into a hole in the back and started winding the doll up. "Plus, you have the Servant Doll taking care of you."

The Servant Doll started to move with some squeaking noises as her clockwork started to function. It covered Enju up in his blanket with stiff movements, and then it grabbed the soup bowl and carried it downstairs to be washed.

Enju remained quiet, eyes sad. His whole image projected the idea that he didn't want Barasuishou to leave. Seeing this, Barasuishou put her small hand over her father's bigger one and said to him.

"Father! When I meet Rozen I will definitely make him heal you!"

Enju shook his head wearily. "You don't need to do this. It's useless. You are being childish..."

Barasuishou stood up. "It will work! It will! It has to! I will find Rozen, and I will make him cure you!" Tears were gathering at the corners of her eyes.

She ran out the room, tears falling as Enju called her name again and again.

"No, Barasuishou. Don't cry. You have to be strong. It's the only way that you can rescue Father. Don't cry..." she said, trying to give herself a pep talk and a dose confidence, brushing away the tears on her cheeks.

She didn't know when Father had gotten sick. Just before she had broken into little pieces **1**, he had been fine, even coming to her and holding her, and after that Barasuishou had...

Of course, she had woken up again, but by that time, Father had already fallen sick. Barasuishou herself didn't understand how she had gotten rebuilt, or how Enju had given her life yet again. But when she saw the sick Enju, she had instantly started crying.

She had been scared, because at that time, Barasuishou didn't know what sickness he had.

She still wasn't sure now. But her guess was that he wasn't just sick.

He had been poisoned.

It must have been the kind of poison that doesn't slay you immediately, but gradually, slowly, and surely, leeched away the afflicted person's life. Even the advanced medical skills that existed now could not save him. She knew that this poison could only be cured by strong alchemy. The type that Enju could wield. However, her father was much too sick to even sit up for long periods of time, let alone mix a cure for himself. And the only person who had great power in alchemy other than Enju was Rozen, and Rozen only.

So that was why she promised to cooperate with Kirakishou, agreeing that she would help her become Alice. In return, Kirakishou had promised to persuade Rozen to cure Enju.

Barasuishou was scared. She was anxious about that one day when she would come to see her father again and she would find him dead.

Gone.

She really dreaded that day.

Walking mechanically down the stairs the doll stayed lost in her thoughts. She retraced the path she came from, going by her memory, and reentered Kirakishou's N-field.

Kirakishou beamed her ghostly smile when she saw Barasuishou return.

.

..

...

Akaihana was worrying.

Akaihana stared fixedly at her watch. Yukihani stood beside her, face peeping out from behind Akaihana's shoulder, also looking at the clock intently. Akaihana let out a heavy sigh.

"Time has almost run out, but..." she said, looking at Yukihani and opening her mouth again to ask about her opinion, but was disappointed seeing the vacant and distant look on the other doll's face.

Yukihani's thoughts were already floating away.

"Forget it. You don't even understand the severity of the situation." _Or at least you pretend not to._ Akaihana put the watch away, took out a DVD, ran over to the TV, and put the disc in.

"Eh? Which movie is this, sude?"

Akaihana sat on the sofa, eyes glowing in anticipation. "_Twilight_!"

Tsukigin looked puzzled. "What is this... _Twylite_, sude?"

Suiseiseki suddenly popped out. "It's a movie that talks about a vampire who likes to shove poisonous_ apples_ into other people's mouths, desu!"

A scene of herself having an ugly, black, apple forced in to her mouth by a hideous vampire appeared in Tsukigin's mind. She looked frightened and a cold sweat broke out on her forehead.

"Whatever... vampire, poisonous apples, it doesn't matter, sude... I'm... I'm... I'm not scared at all!"

In actuality, her face was already paling tremendously from fear. She quickly ducked behind the sofa, walking crookedly since her legs were not functioning properly and felt like jelly.

A wolf's howl emitted out of the TV screen and Akaihana squealed like a fangirl.

"OH MY GOSH! He turned into a wolf, desu! A WOLF, desu!" Suiseiseki pointed at the werewolves on the screen, half-dead with fright.

Akaihana was annoyed by all the screaming. She took out a ribbon and slapped the still-shrieking Suiseiseki into the far distance.

"Whoa, the Suiseiseki Rocket flew farther than I thought it would, sude!" Tsukigin declared from her hiding place.

* * *

Yukihani was baking.

"I want to eat egg rolls, kashira!"

Yukihani broke apart two eggs and began to stir the mixture.

"Okay! Do you want strawberry flavored ones, or mocha flavored ones, deyo?"

Kanaria pouted and puffed up her cheeks, imitating a hamster.

"I just want the normal flavored ones! With sugar sprinkled on top, kashira!

Yukihani put the cooked egg on a plate, rolled it up, and scattered sugar on it. Just at that very moment, the oven dinged, signaling that the cake she had been baking was finished too. With amazing speed, Yukihani pulled it out of the oven, frosted the cake, and then brought it outside to the table.

Everyone sat around the dining table eating sweets and drinking tea.

Suigintou slowly chewed the cake, looking strangely like a sheep, and with a slightly defeated look on her face. It was obvious that Yukihani had forced her to come and eat the cake she despised so much.

"I hate sweets..." Suigintou growled as she stabbed her fork repeatedly into her chunk of cake, smashing it up into tiny little bits.

"But you still came, deyo!" Yukihani smiled.

"That's because you forced her here Yukihani. Didn't I tell you to ask her to come here politely? What did you do to her?" Akaihana chided gently as she took a bite from her fork.

"I told her that if she didn't come I would tell everybody that she likes watching Kuroshitsuji! DEYO!"

"Which you did anyways, sude."

"Quit dithering around and say what you have to say," Suigintou stated with impatience, putting down her cutlery and pushed away the cake mush she had created with her ferocious fork stabbing.

Akaihana did not answer and took her sweet, sweet, time pouring Jun and Nori some tea as Suigintou grew more and more frustrated. Finally, she sat down and faced Suigintou first, and then the rest of the remaining dolls.

"All I wanted to bring to your notice is that we don't have much time."

The before noisy table quieted in an alarming rate. Suiseiseki looked so scared that her visible hand was shaking. Tsukigin, seeing this, put her own hand on the trembling doll, motioning for her to calm down. Akaihana took out her watch and showed it to everybody.

"We've already wasted six days, which means that the time left to rescue Hinaichigo has been cut down to eight days and Souseiseki's real body only has twenty-nine days before it will disappear. Shinku has eight-four days left, but if her condition worsens anymore during the time we are looking for her, the time might drop to one month." Akaihana put her watch back into her purse.

"Then why are we still here leisurely drinking tea?" Suigintou stood up, turned around, and prepared to leave.

"Wait, Suigintou. You must understand that we Rosa Mystica are different from you Rozen Maidens."

"You've said that a few hundred times already," Suigintou grumbled, but she paused anyways.

Akaihana kept talking. "Rozen made it so that all the Rosa Mysticas have to work together, or else it will not be possible to revive a Rozen Maiden doll."

Akaihana stood up and began circling the table. "It doesn't matter how much resentment we have for that doll, or how much we don't like our partners," Akaihana sent Yukihani a slanting look, "We can't complain and have to work together."

Akaihana walked in front of Kanaria.

"And because we have to work together, it's only when all of the Rosa Mysticas are together when we can resurrect fallen dolls. Otherwise, no matter what we do, Rozen won't let us bring her back to life. And at this point in time..." She turned towards Kanaria, who was staring at her nervously.

"All of the Rosa Mysticas have been awakened — Except for Kanaria's."

All the people around the table and Suigintou turned to look at Kanaria, who in turn stiffened and grabbed the edge of her dress tensely.

"Uh, well, you said that the only way for Hinaichigo to be revived is if my Rosa Mystica comes out, kashira! Then... Then... you can do it!" Kanaria sputtered before closing her eyes tightly.

Akaihana smiled, and the symbols of summoning spread out underneath her feet.

_"I, Akaihana, the thirteenth Rozen Maiden, fifth Rosa Mystica, declare my right to summon another Rosa Mystica. Please allow me to call out the Rosa Mystica of Kanaria."_

This time, instead of a shower of roses, a blanket of feathers that looked to be made of mother-of-pearl. Bright, festive, colors danced across the surfaces of the feathers, and the light created an iridescent shimmer in the air. Akaihana snatched a feather out of the air and lightly pressed it onto Kanaria's forehead.

"Don't worry. This won't hurt," Akaihana said gently to the tense Kanaria.

"_Come out, Hachidori*."_

Kanaria's Rosa Mystica gleamed with a multicolored light and then the brightness faded to reveal a doll.

A long black braid, almond shaped brown eyes, and ancient styled clothes. Kanaria's Rosa Mystica had the look of an Asian.

"Hello everybody. My name is Hachidori. Nice to meet you." The new doll waved at everybody.

"Your clothes are very beautiful. Is that a kimono?' Nori asked, smiling.

"No, what I'm wearing is not a kimono. These are actually the clothes of ancient China," Hachidori said, twirling in front of Nori.

"Ah, kashira? My Rosa Mystica came out, so why am I not dead, kashira?" Kanaria said with surprise, looking at herself. She pinched herself a few times to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

"That's because when we summon out a Rosa Mystica, we are only really summoning out their awareness, combining it with a small amount of their energy, and giving a shape to the combination. We leave most of the life force with the owner," Hachidori explained.

Akaihana started walking toward the door.

"Okay, that's enough talking. Nori, please prepare some food. We're leaving in ten minutes."

Jun choked on his tea. "What are you leaving so quickly for?"

"_Me_ leaving? _We're_ going to look for Hinaichigo of course. And Nori, don't forget to pack some chocolate!"

"WHAT?"

Akaihana turned around to look at Jun.

"Jun, you know wanted to know how Shinku died, right?"

Jun's knuckles turned white as his grip on the teacup tighten. Taking a deep breath and ejecting the terrible imaginations from his mind, the boy shook his head.

"Shinku was killed by Kirakishou and Barasuishou. Her body was chopped into pieces."

Akaihana paused for a few seconds as everybody gasped and waited for the looks of alarm to slip off their faces.

"To revive Shinku, we have to find all those pieces. The problem is that we don't know how many shards Shinku was shattered into. It could be thousands, tens of thousands, even millions." Akaihana started walking up the stairs.

"Since we don't know how much time we need to go save Shinku, we will have to make use of all the time we have _now_."

* * *

**Hachidori= Hummingbird**

**1: Rozen Maiden; Season 2, Episode 12**

**Edit: We have included Bara-Bara as a doll up where it says "Eight dolls..." so on and so forth, because she's interfering in the Alice Game and therefore counts as a participant. Capiche?  
**

_Gellie: Hi! It's only me again! I just wanna tell you heartless readers (Scarlet: I fully approve of your use of words and your judgement of them) who never review that we won't be able to update for 4 days because we are off at a school trip~ Eh? Scarlet? You are actually here? Are we editing the same chapter on Doc Manager on different computers? Should I log off?_**_  
_**

_Scarlet: __Meh... I will... You do the writing. _By the way, I changed the title from Poison to _Alexipharmic_.  


_Gellie: WHAT?  
_

_Scarlet: Didn't you see?  
_

_Gellie: ... What does a-lex-i-phar-mic mean?  
_

_Scarlet: "Alexipharmic" means antidote.  
_

_Gellie: Okay. So now what?  
_

_Scarlet: I'm going to bed. *Yawn* Type up whatever...  
_

_Gellie: HEY! But I already said all I wanted to say.  
_

_Scarlet: Then sleep, we have to get to school at 4:45 am tomorrow.  
_

_Gellie: True. Good night then.  
_

_Scarlet: Hmm... Sayonara... Oyasumi...  
_

_Gellie: KK... Let me post this first.  
_


	6. Chapter 5: Introducing:

Chapter 5

«Introducing»

* * *

Kirakishou sat on a white swing. The white swing was hung a white tree with white leaves. The white tree was in a sea of white roses. The white roses were planted in a white ground. The white ground baked underneath a white sun. The white sun hung low in a white sky. The white sky was split apart by a white castle.

Everything was white and white and then even more white. This included Kirakishou herself. All the objects in the N-Field were shaded the color of snow.

Due to the pale gleam of everything, the N-field appeared to be extremely desolate and bland. It was like a blank sheet of paper that nobody had bothered to color.

Kirakishou pondered in her mind, and placed a hand under her head as she thought deeply. She gazed at the horizon, staring at the endless sea of white, the look in her eyes blank and emotionless.

"So boring. There aren't any other colors here," she muttered, picking up an ivory rose.

Her brow wrinkled at the sight of the snowy color and she shredded it mercilessly in disgust.

It was then, as the torn petals drift down to the ground when another color finally entered the bleached world. Kirakishou's trademark mocking sneer appeared on her face.

The new color was purple.

Barasuishou was plodding slowly over to her, pushing past the bushes of roses. Her eyes were slightly puffy and red rimmed.

_She was crying._ Kirakishou deduced with no difficulty.

She didn't get what in the world Barasuishou thought about half of the time. Why was she working and sacrificing herself so hard for that stupid, useless, Enju? And if that hadn't irritated Kirakishou enough, she even wanted Rozen, her dear father, to help him! Barasuishou was more naive and innocent than Kirakishou had ever thought, as the first thing she had noticed about the purple doll was how she always wore a cold, expressionless facade, and then assumed she was powerful. Not really. Barasuishou was too pure. So pure that it verged on completely idiotic.

Kirakishou _HATED_ idiotic things.

If it weren't for the fact that she wanted to become Alice to prove that she wasn't just an unfinished product and an ethereal being, she would have killed Barasuishou already instead of using her as a chess piece.

"Have you finished seeing your father?" Kirakishou said, voice high and noble as she kicked at the ground lightly and started to sway back and forth on her swing.

An icy mask quickly replaced the evidence of Barasuishou's crying. The doll with the eye patch stepped up closer, leaned on the tree and dipped her head towards the other cyclop doll.

"Yes; I have finished seeing him."

How hilarious she was, still acting all apathetic and haughty when she was nothing more than a tiny little piece on the board.

They fell silent after that and entertained themselves by staring at the flying petals in the wind.

"How long are you planning to have her stay here?" Barasuishou said, breaking the silence.

The other doll remained quiet as she swung higher and higher.

"What do you mean by "her"?" she taunted, faking an expression of honesty.

Impatiently, Barasuishou clasped her fist around the white rope of the swing. The swing jolted and slowed down until it was simply wagging feebly.

"**_That_** of yours!"

"Hee... Hee... What**_ "that"_**?"

The purple doll closed her golden eye, taking in a breath.

"**_That_** stupid weakling you have as a Rosa Mystica, of course!" Barasuishou shouted as loud her small doll throat could.

Pleased and grinning from the other doll's reaction, Kirakishou hopped off of the seat of the swing.

"Yes, yes, yes. I understand. You finally said it clearly. Be more precise next time. "

Barasuishou huffed and turned around, her wavy white hair swishing through the air like a whip as she stomped a bit farther away from Kirakishou, a doll that pissed her off. So. Very. Much.

If it weren't for the fact that she wanted meet Rozen, save her beloved father, and live together with him, she would have killed Kirakishou already, instead of begging the doll to help her so pitifully.

She was interrupted from her thoughts by the sound of sharp clapping. Barasuishou spun around and saw Kirakishou's hands raised as she clapped loudly at a slow, steady, pace.

Instantly, at the sixth time when Kirakishou's palms slapped together, a streak of turquoise light dashed towards them. It flew until it was just about going to crash into them, and then suddenly halted a foot away. There were a few quick flashes and the light shifted into a doll.

Her hair was a beige-orange that was so light that it was almost white. and was pulled back and secured into two buns at the bottom of her head with blue crystals. No; they weren't crystals but spiky shards of ice.

Her aquamarine eyes were shockingly pale too. There were distant and ghostly, shining with a bit of shyness and timidity. She wore a turquoise dress that was made of a silky, translucent, fabric that hung loosely on her body. This doll gave off a petite feeling. She seemed delicate and weak, and looked as though she might vanish at any moment, almost like a ghost.

The frail doll cracked open her small, dainty lips.

"Gan-Gan-korika... is here... Eto... What orders are master going... to... to... give me?" She stuttered, her voice extremely soft.

Kirakishou walked up to her Rosa Mystica whose eyes never left the colorless soil underneath her and lifted her head with her finger.

"Say... Gankorika, is it? What is the color of my Domain?"

Gankorika's blue-green eyes swept the area around her nervously.

"W-wh-white?"

Kirakishou beamed and forced the beige haired doll's face closer to her own.

"Correct. Well then. What other color is there then?"

Fright appeared on Gankorika's face. Just seeing the dark grin on her owner's countenance made her tremble with terror. She quickly glanced at Barasuishou.

"P-pur-pur...Purple?"

Kirakishou removed her hand from Gankorika's chin.

"Fufu...You missed one."

Hearing this, Gankorika dropped down, curling herself into a tight ball in dread. She knew that Kirakishou was going to do something bad to her.

"Forget it. How about I say it for you?"

Kirakishou crouched down and put her face near her Rosa Mystica's once more.

"In my N-Field, other than white, I only allow two colors. Purple and red."

Kirakishou stood up slowly, pulling the other doll with along with her, and pointed towards Barasuishou. "She represents the purple. Do you know where the red is from then?"

Gankorika lifted her shivering head slowly.

"Shi-Shin-Shinku?"

"Wrong. It's from_ blood_."

Gankorika was so scared that she involuntarily stepped a few steps back.

"Let me reiterate for you. I only allow red and purple. Turquoise is banned and forbidden."

Gankorika's eyes widened. She finally understood what her owner was leading towards all this time. She collapsed to the ground again, quivering, as she watched the white rose vines come shooting her way.

"No!" Gankorika screamed, protesting her fate.

There was a flash of searing light.

The rose vines were blocked by sword that the other two dolls had no idea where the scared girl had gotten from. A look of surprise flashed across the shy doll's own features as she shuddered under the weight of the huge sword. It appeared that Gankorika didn't have a lot of physical strength and she fell back to the ground, exhausted. The sword clattered onto the ground and disappeared into the air, becoming nothing but a wisp of translucent smoke.

Kirakishou withdrew her web-like vines and stalked up to the terrified doll.

"Leave, and don't let me see you again. I will spare you this time, but if you ever appear before my eyes once more... **I will kill you**."

Tears slid down the quaking doll's face.

"Ye-ye-yes, mas-s-ter," she sobbed.

Turning back into the crystalline Rosa Mystica form, she flew away shakily.

"She really is a weak, useless, doll..." Barasuishou commented.

Kirakishou nodded. "She has no place in our plans. To become Alice, we must get rid of all weaknesses.

"And she is nothing but weakness."

.

..

...

Yukihani grabbed Suigintou and started sprinting away.

"What are you doing?" Suigintou asked.

"Ara, deyo? It's raining outside so Swuigintou-samwa can't sleep on the roof tonight, right?"

Suigintou tugged her arm out of the doll's grasp harshly.

"Stop bossing me around, you dead rabbit coney."

Yukihani placed her fist under her chin, a contemplative look crossing her face.

"Nope! I think bossing Swuigintou-samwa around is fun! And besides, Yukihani is not a dead rabbit coney! I'm a snow-white, angel, bunny, deyo!"

Hearing this, Suigintou wheeled around and decided to leave this stupid house but Yukihani caught her arm again.

"Don't worry Swuigintou-samwa deyo, I found a really nice place for you to sleep, and nobody will bother you there. You could even sleep there in the morning, deyo!"

Suigintou debated with herself. It really was raining hard outside, thus rendering the roof useless for sleeping and blocking her way to Megu, stranding her here. Besides, up till this point, Yukihani had not tried to fight with her, nor gone against her. On the other hand, there was always Yukihani to deal with... She let herself be tugged along.

They passed the noisy dining room and reached the beginning of the staircase.

"Are we there yet?" Suigintou asked.

Yukihani nodded her head emphatically and started gesturing energetically.

"You see, a few days ago, Akaihana was reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone while mumbling _'literature these days is so interesting',_ deyo, and in it Harry slept in a closet under the stairs. So Yukihani thought, 'When it starts raining or snowing, Swuigintou-samwa will be frozen into an ice-cube if she sleeps outside, so I should find a place for her to sleep just in case, deyo!' And then I thought of Harry-CHAN!"

Yukihani pointed to a space under the stairs. Although there wasn't a cupboard like Harry's, the bottom was empty and wide to occupy a sleeping Suigintou.

"Before, there was a bicycle down here deyo, so I wheeled the bicycle away, dusted this space a bit, lugged down a really, really, REALLY soft mattress (Gellie: futon), and put a pillow and a blanket on there. And TADA! You have a bed, deyo!"

Suigintou didn't answer. Instead, she bent down at the waist and stroked the blanket.

"So? What do you think, deyo?"

Suigintou sat on her so-called bed. "Hm. It's fine. Good enough."

Yukihani sat down too, and suddenly hugged Suigintou.

Suigintou was shocked by the abrupt hug, but after so many days with Yukihani she was already accustomed to being embraced by the doll, so she just let herself stay there. Yukihani leaned her head on Suigintou's shoulder and smiled sweetly.

"Do you like the bed I made, deyo, Swuigintou-samwa?"

"I told you already, it's good enough."

Yukihani's smile grew even brighter.

"Swuigintou-samwa..." she said softly.

The black-haired doll lifted her head to gaze at the other doll, who saw the slightly distressed expression on her face. Seeing immediately whom Suigintou was worrying about, Yukihani spoke up.

"Swuigintou-samwa, are you thinking about Megu-chan, deyo?"

Suigintou looked away, a bit uncomfortable, because Yukihani had guessed correctly. She had been thinking of Megu. She was afraid that while she was gone, Megu's heart disease would start up again and send her back to the hospital. It had taken so long for Megu to get out in the first place. (In the manga, Megu is already released from the hospital Gellie: And she is like all evil...).

Yukihani stood up and let go of Suigintou.

"I'm sorry Swuigintou-samwa, deyo. I've kept you cooped up here, so you couldn't go to see Megu." Yukihani lowered her head.

Suigintou hugged her knees, ignoring her.

"But don't worry Swuigintou-samwa! Once we've revived all the fallen dolls, you can go to see Megu-chan again, deyo!"

Yukihani said this with immense determination, her bright green eyes igniting with a fierce blaze of fire that Suigintou could not define. All she knew was that those were eyes that said they would accomplish that goal, no matter what.

"Definitely! I promise!"

.

..

...

A faceted, crystal, wine glass fell to the ground, shattering into many glistening shards that skittered all over the ground. It had been filled with a dark colored grape wine that left a huge, ugly, red splotch on the cream colored carpet. The drunken man laid his head on the surface of the polished wooden table he sat at, his eyes shut tightly.

He was furious with the world, he was depressed with life, and he detested himself. His many emotions were all interwoven and entwined.

The door to the room creaked open, revealing a doll. Crimson eyes scanned the room calmly. It seemed that the doll had been attracted here by the sound of breaking glass.

The man raised his head slowly, his once gleaming golden hair now lying in clumps like bundles of dry straw. The doll remained speechless and bent down to pick up the shards, her long, dark, straight, but uneven hair draping over her shoulders. She deposited the sharp pieces carefully into the trash while looking up to the man with questioning eyes.

The man, on the other hand, appeared to have not even noticed the new person's arrival. He took out another glass and filled it up again with the dark wine. At the very moment that he raised the cup to his lips for another swig, the doll quickly made herself known.

"Rozen! STOP DRINKING!" she shouted, ripping the cup out of his fingers.

He just glared.

"Please?" she asked weakly, cowering under his look while placing the delicate flute back onto the table.

Rozen rubbed his temples and threw another sharp glower at the doll.

"Did you find it yet?" He asked coldly.

She nodded.

Rozen appeared to be very satisfied at her answer and grinned, albeit maliciously.

"Good. Then hurry up and finish it. Right now."

The doll hesitated, her expression momentarily betraying her nervousness. Seeing her reaction, Rozen stood up, cerulean eyes stormy.

"What's wrong? ARE YOU NOT ABLE BEAR IT? CAN YOU NOT BEAR IT?"

He picked up the glass of wine and threw it at the doll with alarming accuracy and speed. She just ducked away with a fluidity that seemed to have come from experience. It looked as if she was used to being Rozen's living target.

Rozen's ire rose more when he realized he wouldn't able to quench his sadistic thirst physically, and his darkening orbs flashed dangerously as he began another approach.

"There no way you can refuse my orders, and no way you can get away from them! Not even hiding will work! Ha! I'd like to see you try! Believe me when I say that there's no way you can escape!" he screamed, midnight eyes blazing.

The doll raised her lowered head, red orbs warily watching the crazy doll maker.

"Do you understand?"

The doll bit her lip, her body language giving the impression that she was forcing herself to tolerate whatever Rozen was asking of her.

"You understand." he growled, correctly gathering that she would bear through it.

"THEN GO! GO RIGHT NOW AND HURRY, KAENSHADO*! GO!"

Kaenshado, so this was the doll's name.

Kaenshado nodded her head silently, accustomed to the half-insane man. She knew that Rozen's emotions would always become unstable after he drank alcohol, and that when his mood was volatile, she had to always agree to his demands, or else his disposition would get worse. The situation would escalate into things more horrible than throwing or crashing after that.

Rozen seemed to calm down slightly. He resumed his earlier position on his chair and put his head back down onto the table lazily.

Kaenshado left, forcing her posture to be straight and tall and making an illusion of confidence so that the tears sliding unnoticed down her face could be concealed for a little longer.

_Why did Rozen turn out like this?_ She wondered.

She wiped her tears off with an amazing swiftness, hands blurring so fast that it looked as though she had only given herself a soft prod.

Kaenshado wanted to hide her weakness. And she would do so well.

Above anything and everything, she didn't want to disappoint Rozen.

.

..

...

Nori looked at the busy dolls as she made sandwiches. Bread, lettuce, cheese, sauce, and bread again. She repeated the pattern over and over. Akaihana was packing her case with many different kinds of household items and Cherriru was viciously stuffing hers with sleeping bags.

Nori passed the finished sandwiches to Akaihana, who took out a rather large, in her opinion, lunchbox and placed the loaves of bread into the wooden box.

"Ne, Akaihana-chan. How long are you guys leaving this time?" she asked curiously.

Akaihana lifted up her head.

"We will come back once Shinku is alive. We might go for one month or more."

Nori felt her heart plunge. _They have to leave so long?_ Her thoughts filled with dread. Now that she had answered Nori's question, Akaihana returned to her endless packing.

Suiseiseki was sitting on her own case, confused about why the Rosa Mystica cases' were being used to hold things like humans. Weren't doll cases there to help them finally achieve some real rest? Why were they stuffing them with weird human stuff then? It was just disrespectful to the rare, limited, possessions Rozen had granted to them.

Yukihani was sitting in a huge pile of keys, searching for the one key that would open her case. Suigintou stuck her head out from under the stairs and laid her eyes onto the keys and Yukihani.

Wondering what the rabbit coney was doing now with such a surprising huge pile of keys, Suigintou walked up to see what was going on.

"You are so dense. You_ knew_ that you would have a hard time finding your key in the pile but you still locked your case and threw the key in there..."

Yukihani smiled and turned around to face Suigintou cheerfully.

"That's because there's something really important to me in there and I don't want anybody else to see it."

She sifted through the pile a little more, picked out a snow-white key, and inserted into the lock. There was a very soft click and the case opened. Yukihani let out a cry of delight, raised the lid… and took out a cute, innocent-looking, stuffed bunny.

Suigintou found herself speechless. She didn't understand why she had wasted her curiosity on the foolish rabbit. Reluctantly, she went back to her little room under the stairs.

She hated rabbits, Suigintou concluded, because both of the rabbits she knew, Laplace and Yukihani, weren't pleasing to her. At all.

* * *

Souseiseki sat obediently on the chair. Tsukikin was currently rifling through her case.

"Ohohohoho! I found it!"

She took out and displayed a very flowery, Victorian-style, dress, and… a matching, embroidered, purse. Tsukigin then whipped Souseiseki's hat off of her head, golden eyes shining.

"Take off your clothes!" she said.

"Eh?"

Souseiseki froze at her words, but in the end and after some thinking she started to peel off her clothes slowly.

Tsukikin organized the dress she was holding, smoothing out the wrinkles. Then she smiled a dreamy, evil, fan-girl reminiscent smile. She took out a makeup box from the matching pink purse. With no resistance at all, she started apply foundation onto the Souseiseki's skin.

Suiseiseki and Tsukigin, both of whom had just come by, saw that Souseiseki's stony face had been completely covered with a layer of foundation one inch thick. They yelped in fright and stepped up to stop Souseiseki's impending doom.

Tsukikin was about to add more makeup to her model's cheeks, upping to count to three inches. Tsukigin quickly slapped her hand down onto Tsukikin's shoulders forcefully.

"Stop, su– KYAAAAAA!"

Without letting her sister finish her sentence, Tsukikin used her pointy, stiletto heeled, shoes and kicked the younger doll into far distance with a loud "PIA!" Tsukigin ended up as nothing but a tiny, insignificant speck, her flame colored hair trailing behind her in a manner reminiscent to the fire behind a rocket.

Now seeing the poor doll's terrible fate, Suiseiseki had lost her guts to stop the Rosa Mystica. She really wanted to save and help her dear little sister... But... She didn't want to face a fate like Tsukigin.

Tsukikin spread one last film of lipstick over Souseiseki's mouth and then bowed dramatically, inviting everyone to gather around and marvel at her masterpiece as Tsukigin crashed back into the ground, ignored. Akaihana, however, just shook her head.

"Tch. We're all packing for our journey. You guys, however, are over here playing dress up."

Tsukikin leaped over to Akaihana and stopped in front of the doll, her carmine hair bouncing ceaselessly in the air.

"You don't understand! Because we are going on a journey, we need to be beautiful and gorgeous when we are traveling! Ohohohoho!"

Akaihana ignored the exuberant Tsukikin, and scanned Souseiseki once over, before pausing, and looking her over again.

"Is this what you meant by 'beautiful and gorgeous'? Well, Tsukikin, looks like your makeup application skills have regressed."

Tsukikin observed Souseiseki more carefully.

Souseiseki's face was caked in so much powder that she looked whiter than the walls of a hospital. (Scarlet: Have you ever seen those walls I'm talking about? They're just so... soooo... WHITEEEE!)

The color of the blush was too bright and the strokes of the eyeliner were abnormally thick and clumsy. The eye shadow was irregular and in various states of thickness while the lipstick was... dark purple. She looked exactly like the ghost—Sadako.

"I guess you're right... Akaihana. It's a waste of time." Tsukikin said, looking like she was going to cry.

She took out a bottle of cleansing oil and a few cotton face wipes from her overcrowded case, defeated, before stuffing them into her purse for easy transport.

"I will help, desu." Suiseiseki said, grabbing a handful of wipes and leading her sister to the bathroom to change.

Tsukikin got up from her crumpled position and picked up Souseiseki's original blue clothes and chased after the Rozen Maidens.

"Wait for me too! I wanna help too, sude!"

Akaihana winced, wondering if she had seen the huge, pinkening, foot print on her face.

"KYAA! MY FACE! SUDE!"

Ah, so she just saw it.

Sighing, Tsukikin picked up her pink purse and went into the bathroom too.

* * *

Yukihani had been sitting in the corner the whole fiasco, playing cheerfully with her bunny. Akaihana sat down next to her. There was no talk, no fuss, just Yukihani playing with her toy and the other Rosa Mystica packing diligently.

The doll pecked her plush rabbit on the head sweetly before cuddling it in a gentle manner. It seemed like she really loved that toy bunny.

Akaihana finished packing everything on the floor near to her. She blew out a breath of air that said 'I know I'm going to regret this later', closed the lid of her case, and finally began talking to the doll beside her.

"I've already packed all the food we need. What have you finished so far?"

Yukihani seemed as though she hadn't heard the question and continued hugging her ragged plushie.

Akaihana had no reaction to being ignored, instead continuing on with a cold, impersonal, voice.

"Tsukigin and Cherriru are in charge of the sleeping bags and tents, Hachidori is in charge of the first aid, Tsukikin is taking care of our water, and I am done with the food. Where are the wash products you were supposed to take care of?"

Yukihani didn't seem ashamed at all as she announced, "I haven't started yet, deyo."

Anger flared in Akaihana's orange eyes but the doll just pressed down her emotions and spoke to the other doll.

"What wrong, Yukihani? You were always organized, so why are you messy today?"

At those words, her expression turned uneasy and she clutched the doll closer to her chest.

"Something happened to her, deyo." Yukihani said softly, eyes filled with worry. "I can sense it. Something has happened to Kori-chan."

Akaihana let out a breath. "So you are worrying about Gankorika."

Yukihani nodded, silent.

"Oh well, it's just a matter of time for something bad to happen to her. Her master is Kirakishou after all and you know that child's temper. Plus, Gankorika was always so weak looking. You should be slightly glad it happened now and not later so she doesn't have to endure through anymore of that child's torture."

Yukihani shrugged her shoulders, rolled them a little, and shook off her stress. She breathed in, beamed, and went back to her cheerful self.

The doll then summoned a mound that towered to the ceiling, comprised completely of full tubes of toothpaste of all different flavors from who knows where, and started stuffing them all into her bag.

Akaihana's eyes flashed at this.

"I know that I said that you are supposed to pack wash products, but who told you to_ only_ pack toothpaste? Also, you are packing wash products because Orokana Jun needs it! What would we dolls need so much toothpaste for?"

Yukihani's smile remained, as though making Akaihana mad was a very wonderful and fun past time. Akaihana gave herself a nice, sharp tug on her hair as reminder to not lose her composure.

"Okay, Yukihani. I have already given you the easiest job. Can you please take it more seriously?"

Yukihani nodded her head vacantly, and looked for all the world like she had heard half of Akaihana's words and missed the other half.

"Hai, hai~ I know, Akai—"

Yukihani suddenly stood up, her expression conveying her utmost surprise. Akaihana startled at the abrupt movement and her eyes were mildly questioning. "What's wrong?" she asked.

She paused and felt the waves of energy come streaming in and attacking her brain, giving her a sharp, refreshed, stinging, feeling, comparable to taking deep whiffs of freshly picked mint, earthy and piquant.

"She's coming." Akaihana said, now understanding the reason of Yukihani's sudden action.

"Where do you think the exit will be then, deyo?" Yukihani asked, her brow furrowed.

Cherriru, Tsukikin, and Tsukigin ran over, all of their eyes blazing with the same message: I'm sensing it.

Tsukigin was whipping around and around again in circles, as if she was searching for something.

"Where do you think she'll come out from, deyo?" Yukihani said again, this time directing her question to Tsukigin.

Tsukigin placed her hands onto the wall, smoothing over it and feeling it. Eventually, her hands slid to a portion of the wall and she jolted. With eyes gleaming with excitement, she turned around.

"Over here! I can sense it, sude! The feel of her power is very strong! She's going to come out from right here! That's great! Sude!" The maid doll cheered excitedly.

Yukihani was already bouncing up and down impatiently.

Unexpectedly, the face of the wall began to shift, sinking back and forming a hole. The world waited with bated breath, anticipating the new guest's arrival.

Gankorika fell down and out of the black void, her face contorted with tears and grief combined.

"Kori-chan! You came, deyo!" Yukihani said enthusiastically, racing towards that pale, frail, doll for a hug. She stopped short when she sensed Gankorika's abject misery.

"Kori-chan?" The white doll asked carefully, trying not to upset the other doll even more. "What happened, deyo?"

Gankorika shook her head slowly, her whole body quaking.

"Come on, Kori-chan, you can tell me," Yukihani wheedled. "Best friends, remember? I'll always listen to you."

In a split second, Gankorika flung her quivering form into Yukihani's accepting arms, who patted the other doll on the head and soothed her gently. "Kori-chan, you have to tell me what's wrong."

The doll's eyes slid up to meet Yukihani's and her shoulders heaved up and down and her mouth worked to speak. Yukihani nodded encouragingly.

"I-i-it's Kira-ki-ki-shou-sama," she stammered out, her voice trembling.

Gankorika's pale eyes slid around the room, meeting everyone else's.

"Sh-sh-she wants to-to k-k-ki-kill me."

* * *

**Gankorika: Sweet ice fragrance or fragrance of sweet ice or fragrance of sweet-smelling ice **(Scarlet: Gellie! It's the same thing! Sheesh!)

**Kaenshado: Kaen = Flame and shado = shadow. **

**Actually shado is the japanese-english pronunciation for "shadow." Shadow in Japanese is actually "kage" but the Rozen Maidens are made by a foreign person, Rozen, which means they are foreign dolls so we wanted them to have a bit english-ish name. That's why Kaenshado is Kaenshado and not Kaenkage. Besides, it sounds better. Kaenkage is just too much on the "k."  
**

Gellie: Another chapter done!**  
**

Yukihani: HOOORAY! DEYO!

Gellie:...Where's Scarlet?

Yukihani: I don't know! Can I flame your story, Gellie? DEYO!

Gellie: ...

Yukihani: Can I? Can I?

Gellie: ...

Yukihani: Please?

Gellie: Seriously, where's Scarlet? D:

Yukihani: I told her that they were selling Naruto plushies downstreet, and off she went! Deyo!

Gellie: Do you even know what is Naruto?

Yukihani: Well... I don't know, deyo! But everything has a plushie, right?

Gellie: ...

Yukihani: Hmmm~?

Gellie: I feel sorry for my dear friend.


	7. Chapter 6: Sur-cease

Chapter 6

«Sur-cease»

* * *

Akaihana drank her chocolate and nibbled on a few cookies, looking unconcerned and blocking out the sounds of Gankorika weeping.

"I c-ca-can't...b-b-believe it! S-sh-she wants to... k-kill me!"

Gankorika sobbed and sucked in more breaths. She bit her lower lip as waves of shudders wracked her body and a flood of tears rolled down her face. Yukihani patted her friend's back gently.

"Don't cry, Kori-chan! Look, I'm comforting you, deyo! You mustn't worry about her now; we can find her and play with her later! And then, we can play a murdering game, deyo! Two against one! Don't worry, the odds are definitely in our favor, deyo!" The doll said, eyes sparkling with golden stars at the thought.

Gankorika stared at Yukihani in slight disbelief for a few seconds, although she seemed mostly used to this side of her, before she started hiccuping uncontrollably, her eyes becoming invisible because her cheek muscles were moving upwards as her mouth opened wider. She sniffed delicately and let out a huge wail, crying more unhappily than before.

"What's wrong, Kori-chi, deyo?"

Gankorika buried her face in the rag doll that Yukihani had lent her and wailed even harder, if that was possible.

Akaihana snorted, pushed her drink and treats away, and picked up a book, ignoring the clamor that was going on around her.

"Yukihani! Really, is this how you comfort Gankorika? In fact, is this how you comfort people in general?" Cherriru said, plucking a tissue out of the box and presenting it to the weeping Gankorika.

The frail doll took the tissue wiped her tears and blew her nose gently. Yukihani smiled innocently and twitched her ears. "Well, I don't need to comfort Kori-chi at all! Because Kori-chi is very powerful, deyo!" she chirped, a faraway look in her green orbs.

Gankorika's own eyes darkened and she tossed the paper ball in her hands away, looking miserable. "Me being powerful... is just... is just... _nonsense,_" she said faintly, no longer stuttering.

Hearing this, Akaihana looked up from her book and smiled warmly. "Kirakishou won't be able to kill you, you know that."

She sounded as though she understood the turquoise doll. Akaihana looked like she wanted to say more, but she closed her mouth and sipped her hot chocolate instead, knowing that if she went on, she would spill too much.

Gankorika wore her own smile, a painful, twisted, grim, smile. "Yeah..." she said, voice still soft and slightly raspy.

With her small smile still on her face as she nodded to Gankorika in understanding, Akaihana stood up and took out her watch. She clutched the chain of the watch and allowed it to swing in front of Gankorika's face so that she could properly comprehend the situation.

"Gankorika, you must know that Barasuishou together with your owner killed mine."

Gankorika's grip tightened on her rag doll, her eyes widening and her irises shrinking in fear.

"I-I-I k-k-know...I-I-I _saw it_..."

She looked as though she were recalling the gruesome scene.

"Don't worry, I won't take any revenge on you. The Rosa Mysticas have to work together and you know that. "

Gankorika sighed and she smiled in relief with a faint, pink blush on her cheeks. "That's good. I was so worried. I thought Akaihana-chan really had changed and turned cold and emotionless like Yukihani had told me."

Akaihana's eyes flashed and for a moment, Cherriru thought she saw Akaihana's irises shrink in fear, becoming small dots surrounded by her orange irises, the way Gankorika's had been earlier.

"You are still the same girl I met when we were m—"

"You saw the Century Clock didn't you? We need to save Hinaichigo first, and then help Souseiseki, and lastly, revive my owner," she said in a hurried tone, cutting Gankorika off.

Gankorika's eyes saddened as she watched the other Rosa Mystica slip the watch back into her purse.

"So... I want you to give us a hand." Akaihana extended a hand to Gankorika.

She hesitated. There was a melancholy nervousness in her heart. _Isn't this betraying my master? _She thought.

_But my master doesn't care about me any more..._

Gankorika reached out her small, slender, pale, fingers and grasped Akaihana's hand tightly, indicating that she had agreed to help them.

"Ara? Deyo? Kori-chan isn't scared of betraying Little Kiraki-shou-shou?" Yukihani remarked, hands supporting her face while blinking her bright, naive, eyes.

Gankorika just smiled confidently at Yukihani's question and nickname for her master, while tears once again flowed down her face. This time, they were filled more with determination than pain.

"I will make Kirakishou-sama regret it! I will make her regret that she abandoned me!"

Akaihana picked up her packed case.

"Well said. Very well said. Then let's leave; now."

.

..

...

Nori watched in silence as all the dolls picked up their luggage, entered the mirror, and disappeared before her eyes. She knew that they were heading out to a new battle, a new war, but she couldn't do anything to help them. All she could do was wave at them, say her good byes and wish them good luck. She could only wear a smiling face and look like she didn't care — when she actually did.

Nori was worried about her little brother. All along, she could only watch in silence as the dolls and Jun step into the mirror and evaporate from her sight like thin air. Ever since the loss of Hinaichigo, Nori had finally come to the realization that this really wasn't a simple, childish, game. Every Rozen Maiden was fighting, fighting for survival, fighting for their lives, fighting for that one chance to meet their Father again. She had watched and witnessed the disappearance of one doll and then another. Who knew who would be next? She had started to love every one of the dolls as though they were her sisters. She remembered how she had cried when she learned that the sweet, smiling, Hina-chan was gone. Nori had wept for each doll that had left, but in silence though. She was the support for Jun; she couldn't wither in grief, or else her brother wouldn't know what to do.

Nori still remember to this day what Jun had said before he had entered the portal door Laplace had presented.

_"Don't worry, I will bring everyone back,"_ he had stated with an air of determination and absolute certainty.

Nori was afraid, honestly afraid, that one day, Jun would not, and would never, step back through that mirror and reenter their world. That in his mission of bringing everyone back, he would lose himself. And she honestly hoped that that day would never come. However, she herself could not do anything. The most support she could provide was sit at the dinner table day after day, every second she could spare, stare at the cooling flower-topped egg hamburgers, and wish with every fiber of her being that all the dolls and her sibling would come back safely.

When Jun heaved his backpack onto his shoulders and prepared to leave, the high school girl called out to him. And although her heart was overflowing with the words she wanted to say, Nori only offered up a sunny smile and the parting words, "Be careful~"

All Jun did was nod his head simply. He didn't look at her, nor did he answer her. This made the cold sensation Nori felt all over worsen, and her heart gave a tight squeeze. Finally, her brother vanished away in a flash as he stepped into the mirror. She was alone in the house now. Again.

Nori chopped the vegetables without any strength behind her actions, her mind all on her little brother. Even when the blade sliced her finger, Nori just stared at the laceration and bright red blood dripping out of it blankly, dismissing it as a light cut and watching it drip onto the green leaves. She moved her finger over to the sink, watching the crimson liquid pool on the bottom before she turned on the tap.

The girl tried to imagine all her fears washing away along with the stains, but they only seemed to press on her harder, flooding her mind with all those horrible situations and images. They seemed to shove away everything else.

Tears burst from her eyes and she used her wet, bloody, hands to hold her face as she cried.

"Tou-san, Kaa-san. What can I do? If anything... anything... happens to Jun-kun... Then..."

"...Then I don't want to live either!"

She stumbled onto a chair beside a table and laid her head down onto the cold surface. Her fingers fumbled around and picked up her parent's photo.

"Pa-pa, Ma-ma, should I tell Jun that you two are at heaven or not?" she asked and cried even louder.

.

..

...

"I can't walk anymore, desu!" Suiseiseki cried out as she fell down to her knees.

Souseiseki lowered herself down too and massaged the older doll's back gently, relaxing her sore joints.

"Suiseiseki, get up. We still need to save Hinaichigo, yes?" Souseiseki soothed, giving Suiseiseki a miniature pep talk.

Even though Souseiseki was trying her best to encourage her sister, lines of exhaustion were fiercely prominent in her own features. Tsukikin noticed this and rested her hand onto Akaihana's shoulder, their unofficial leader.

"Everybody is tired," she said, gazing at Akaihana in silence for the next few seconds, a lost look hovering in her golden eyes.

Of course Akaihana knew that the dolls were tired. They had walked miles and miles without rest. It have been different for Suigintou and Yukihani because they could fly, but considering how Suigintou had been chased around in the air by a singing Yukihani who was shrieking off-pitch... She could deduce that the Suigintou was probably tired by now.

Akaihana raised her hand high as a silent signal to stop and motioned to Cherriru and Tsukigin to start putting up the tents.

With a small smile and a sigh of relief, Gankorika settled down onto the stable surface of the shifting Sea of Subconsciousness and looked around her. Everything was the color of midnight. The only things that weren't black were the floating doors and portholes in the air. The reason they could see the sable-colored water was because it was like a mirror made of shadowed glass. The reflected images of the N-field entrances and exits were convoluted and distorted. Nothing else resided in the darkness. They were alone, with only ghostly whispers and a maze of portals to keep them company.

Tsukigin let out a loud groan and stretched the fabric of the tent tight with all her might. Yukihani was working hard too, for once, securing the poles that would hold up their temporary shelters. Cherriru was unpacking the blankets and sleeping bags and arranging them inside the tent that was still being constructed. Akaihana wondered why she didn't mind having the not yet stretched fabric and the poles lie on her back as she worked. Perhaps it was because she was a rather tall doll and had a broader back, or it could be because she just didn't care about the weight. Tsukikin fumbled in her purse, found a small candle lamp, lit it, and held it up.

"Are we staying here tonight?" Jun asked as he settled down onto the floor with a thump, his arms folded behind his head.

Akaihana eye's narrowed at the boy's lazy attitude as he had not helped them at all with building the tents. Rolling her eyes, she nodded. "Of course we are staying her for rest. Isn't it obvious? What else would we take the tents out for, so we could eat them?" she retorted, taking out a bottle of hot water from a thermos flask and starting to make tea.

"Why aren't you making hot chocolate, deyo?" Yukihani butted in, staring at the tea while sniffing and wrinkling her nose at the smell.

"Because it can be a bother sometimes to make and chocolate might not be the best drink for traveling. It's too rich," Akaihana answered, preoccupied with pouring out a cup.

"What tea is this then, deyo?"

"Puer."

Yukihani stuck out her tongue. "Puer? Deyo? Ew..."

"What? Is there a problem with that type of tea?" Akaihana said, raising an eyebrow.

"I think Puer tastes horrible, deyo. Yukihani likes Black Tea much better."

Akaihana filled up another cup and passed it to Tsukigin, who took it with one hand without looking, drained it, and set it down to the floor before continuing with her busy chores. "Puer and Black Tea are quite similar." Akaihana stated, still defending her beloved Puer Tea.

Yukihani glanced at her cup, gave it a cautious sniff, warily drank a thimbleful, and choked. Quickly, with amazing speed, she dumped spoons and spoons of sugar, milk, and slabs of just sliced lemons into the steaming drink.

"Well... You can put yummy, sweet, creamy, milk and fresh-tasting lemons in Black Tea so it tastes good deyo! Puer still tastes bad after you put lots and lots of sugar and stuff in it, which Yukihani thinks is a miracle, although it's a bad one. Sugar makes EVERYTHING taste better, deyo."

Akaihana had already emptied her cup and she filled it up again, drinking all of the hot liquid with one gulp, showing off how she could drink Puer... without dying like Yukihani.

"Is that so? That's a very interesting reason." said the Rosa Mystica.

_Sure... and Yukihani is the first person I know who puts sugar, milk, and lemons in her Puer tea... Who adds those ingredients in Puer? Seriously!_

Rolling her eyes, Akaihana continued her job of passing cups of tea to the travelers. After everybody had drunk all they wanted, she packed away the teapot and took out a nightgown.

"It's late. Let's sleep.

* * *

_Dark... Gentle... Blue eyes..._

_She saw them smile at her, crinkling up that distinct way._

_A hand appeared and cupped hers. Something warm was passed from palm to palm. Something warm, something soft, something full of life._

_The hand moved away and a cute, yellow, fluffy, chick was left in hers. She marveled at the sight, smiled, and looked up to say "thank you"._

_But the eyes were gone. Hers widened in surprise and she fell back, down an endless hole, space warping around her. A soundless scream left her lips. Something landed on her shoulder and she looked up in reflex, only to see a pair of unforgettable eyes._

_A pair of unforgettable, dark, gentle, blue eyes._

_ —  
_

_Dark... Gentle... Blue eyes..._

_She saw them widen in surprise._

_The owner's body must be close to hers, because for the first time she could look deep inside them, counting the long lashes and reading the perceivable emotions._

_Something was pressing her body down while leaves and twigs jabbed at her skin..._

_She shrieked, slapped at the weight, squeezed her eyes shut and flushed, not even knowing why. A voice gasped in pain and the burden on her body lifted._

_When she opened her eyes again, the other pair was gone. _

_She closed her eyes again in dismay, in sadness, in hurt. But darkness did not shield her, and behind her shut eyelids, she could see a floating pair of eyes._

_A floating pair of dark, gentle, blue eyes._

_ —  
_

_Dark... Gentle... Blue eyes..._

_She saw them staring back at her, looking disappointed._

_They blamed her._

_They blamed her for being so uncaring, for being so aloof, for being so detached._

_They blamed her with an irrevocable hatred. _

_She opened her mouth to try to explain, but nothing came out and her words died in her throat. _

_She ran, trying to tell the eyes that she wasn't a selfish person..._

_She tripped and fell, and when she got up..._

_The eyes were gone, again._

_Until they weren't and her whole world was filled with representations of eyes._

_Representations of dark, gentle, blue eyes._

_ —  
_

_Dark... Gentle... Blue eyes..._

_She saw them, right in front of her, set into a face that would forever be imprinted into her mind. She saw that they were unfocused, no longer staring into her own with love._

_It had disappeared. _

_This time, it wasn't the eyes that were gone; it was the spark of life they contained._

_She stared into a pair of blank, unfeeling, dead, eyes._

_They still looked accusatory. _

_"Why did you do this to me?_

_"It's all your fault..._

_"All your fault..._

_"Your fault..._

_"Your fault that I'm dead._

_"Dead._

_"Dead._

_"Dead._

_"Forever." _

_This time, when she shrieked, the mute button was lifted. _

A scream broke the stifling silence of the night.

Akaihana jolted into a sitting position, still shrieking, her hand on her forehead. She could feel the wetness of cold sweat on her palm.

"What's wrong? Akaihana?"

Hachidori was the first person to rush to the doll's side.

One of Akaihana's hands was supporting her head; the other was over her mouth. Her eyes were wide with fear and she was shaking.

"I d-do-don't know... I... I... don't." Her voice was fragile and weak, sounding like the small croak of a newborn hatchling. It was different from the way she usually acted and presented herself.

"It was a nightmare, yes? What did you see?"

Akaihana slowly lifted her head, her movements stiff and clumsy.

"I... I saw... the past... our past..."

The doll's pupil's shrunk noticeably at an alarming rate and a pearly tear rolled down her cheek, followed by another, and another. Noticing this, Hachidori hugged the unnerved doll consolingly, patting her head gently at the same time. "It's okay, Akaihana, it's okay. Nothing's happening to you right now, it's all in the past. You'll be okay."

Jun stuck his head inside the tent. "Oi! What's going on in here? Why are you all so loud, you bunch of—"

Seeing Akaihana's state, he quieted down immediately. It was the first time he had ever seen the fierce, driven, doll cry. "Master... Please leave us alone. Please." Souseiseki said gently, pointing outside.

"Uh... Oh! Okay... Okay! Okay!" he said, stuttering a bit, and walked outside.

Akaihana continued hyperventilating, eyes scared and lost in the "past". Hollier was hopping around manically, seemingly frantic about the Rosa Mystica.

"Don't worry, Hollier. I'm fine," she said, and took in a deep breath with her eyelids shut tightly. She opened her eyes, looking calmer. Her orange orbs had found its sharpness again.

She turned towards all the other dolls, inclining her head. "I'm sorry for my outburst and loss of composure."

Suigintou carelessly flicked her hair over her shoulder in a way that suggested that she was bored with the incident already. "How embarrassing," she stated dispassionately.

Akaihana did not stop to retort, she just went on. "I'm very sorry. I delayed everybody. Let's head out."

Suigintou snorted, the very sound expressing that Akaihana's behavior was undermining her authority.

Akaihana's orange eyes flashed, but she chose to ignore the skeptical doll, instead beginning to collapse her tent. With a jerk of her head, she indicated that everyone should do the same.

Packing everything tightly into her pack, she looked around their campsite. Seeing as everyone else was still busy, she used the chance to check their progress with the Century Clock.

Her eyes narrowed as she looked at her watch, tracking the movement of the pink handle. _Hinaichigo…_

"We're running out of time."

* * *

_Scarlet: So. Hina-chan is DYYIING!_

_Gellie: That's... nice.  
_

_Scarlet: BAKA! Show some compassion, yeah?  
_

_Gellie: You said it again! You said it again! DEIDARA-CLONE!  
_

_Scarlet: I AM NOT A DEIDARA-CLONE! I do want a plushie of him...  
_

_Gellie: Yeah, I know, you said that a million times already.  
_

_Scarlet: Whatever, seriously. So! We are going to invite a character here for your enjoyment, nice people that we are... Yeah right.  
_

_Gellie: That's... nice...  
_

_ ...  
_

_ NOT!  
_

_ Anyways, we are inviting... *drum roll*  
_

_Scarlet: DUN DUN DUN DUUUUN! Hachidori!  
_

_Gellie: Bet you didn't expect that! Betcha didn't expect that! Oh yeah! Oh yeah! OH YEEAAAH!  
_

_Scarlet: Gellie. Calm down.  
_

_Gellie: __Oh yeah! Oh yeah! OH YEEAAAH!_ Oh. Okay.  


_Hachidori: I'm happy that you are fine. :)  
_

_Gellie: Hachidori, you're so polite!  
_

_Hachidori: Growing up as I did, I have to be.  
_

_Scarlet: Yeah, yeah. Anyways, Hachidori! Umm... How are you? Nah...  
_

_Gellie: Why did we call you here anyways?  
_

_Hachidori: I have no idea. Don't ask me, please.  
_

_Scarlet: And this A/N is already too long, so I'm signing out!~  
_

_Gellie: Same...  
_

_Scarlet: And that's all, yeah...  
_

_Gellie: DEIDARA-CLONE!  
_

_Scarlet: I ALREADY TOLD YOU, I'M NOT A DEIDARA-CLONE! CHA!  
_


	8. Chapter 7: Vehemence

Chapter 7

«Vehemence»

* * *

"I've had enough of this fudging walking! Are we there yet?" Jun complained.

Akaihana winced at his makeshift swearing, because to her, if something represented dirty words, then the meaning was the same, after all, but she chose to ignore him, as usual. Jun continued to yell, waving his arms to get somebody's, anybody's, attention. He still got no answer. Akaihana hid her amusement at the boy's frustration by talking to Cherriru.

"Can you still sense Hinaichigo's life-waves?"

Souseiseki looked mildly perplexed. "A life-wave? What's that?"

"A live-wave is something we Rosa Mysticas can feel from our owners. It's an energy pulse similar to a heartbeat that ripples like a wave from the origin. The stronger and steadier the wave beats, the stronger the life force of the Rozen Maiden is," Akaihana patiently explained. "Now just let Cherriru do what she needs to."

Cherriru stopped and placed her hands in front of her heart, her eyes closed as she muttered obscure words under her breath. Symbols similar to the summoning ritual's appeared under her feet and glowed a pink that was the same shade as Hinaichigo's skirt. Wind emitted from the ground and blew upwards, making Cherriru's hair fly and causing her dress to ripple slightly. Abruptly, everything stopped.

"Something's wrong," the tall doll breathed.

"What is it then?" Akaihana said calmly.

Cherriru looked grim and her fists clenched tightly. "Hinaichigo's breaths were already really weak... But now..."

"What?"

"Now, they are weaker. I think... I think they are going to disappear soon."

Akaihana let out a breath and placed her hands onto her scalp. She rubbed her temples in frustration.

"It's all my fault. I slowed us down with my... troubles. We are moving too slow."

Kanaria, who had been listening to the two talk, felt her nonexistent heart stop. She rushed up to the pair and clasped Akaihana's arm beseechingly.

"Too slow, kashira? What do you mean by that, kashira! Can we get there in time or not?"

Akaihana raised her hand slowly to Kanaria's and pried them off one by one.

"Time is different here, in this middle ground. More rushed. The clock has accelerated. Our time has been cut down immensely," Akaihana answered, not meeting her eyes and looking uneasy.

Kanaria cupped her head in her hands, covering her eyes, and shook her head gently. She knew Akaihana's words meant something bad.

She bit her lip. At least knowing the truth was better than completely not knowing what was happening, so she forced herself to continue asking.

"Well then, kashira. According to the time here, how long has passed since we left?"

The Rosa Mystica closed her eyes and tilted her head down shamefully.

"A week," she said.

Everybody stopped, turned, and stared.

A week? She must be kidding! They had only been walking for a day or two! How could it be a week?

Suiseiseki couldn't believe it, like others. She felt her eyes narrow. She felt disgusted. Were the Rosa Mysticas just playing around with them, lying to them? Letting out a small growl, she stomped up to Akaihana.

"WHAT? A week desu? So does that mean that there's no time left? Does that mean that Chibi-ichigo can't be revived, desu? Wait a second! Don't we have to revive them in order? So no Chibi-ichigo means Souseiseki won't be able to retrieve her real body, desu! Are you just going to let her crumble? Is that what you want? And what about your own owner? Do you want Shinku to stay like this, desu? To stay dead?"

Akaihana swung silently away from the doll's gaze and Suiseiseki guessed that she just simply couldn't meet her gaze.

"Let me think about it," was all she said, as if this situation was nothing. The brunette bit the side of her cheek, reminding herself to control her tears.

But her anger kept surging, no matter how she told herself to keep her self-control. After some long glaring and swallowing her ire, Suiseiseki couldn't stand it anymore. She stomped up to Akaihana, cheeks puffed, and grabbed the doll's sleeve. Akaihana stared back at her with a calmness that Suiseiseki couldn't believe the other doll could maintain. She almost reeled back in the face of that tranquility, but her anger forced her forward. She raised her other hand and slapped the Rosa Mystica hard before she could comprehend what had just happened.

Akaihana crashed to the ground from the force of the hit. The other Rosa Mystica's gasped and Hachidori in particular looked ready to jump up and defend her, but Akaihana froze them to their spots with one sharp glare. She then turned a mildly questioning look to Suiseiseki, who took this as her chance to vent. Glowering at Akaihana, she ranted, "Why don't you feel anything? Why don't you CARE, desu!? Chibi-ichigo's life is hanging by a thread, and all you can say is "Let me think about it"? How cold can you be, desu? You're so SELFISH!"

During Suiseiseki's tirade, Akaihana had slowly stood up, hand lightly brushing her cheek.

"My apologies," she said stiffly.

An eerie silence settled over both the pair and the audience. Akaihana sighed, almost as if she were composing herself. "I know."

Suiseiseki stared at her in disbelief. Surely, _surely_, she was going to offer more than that!

Her orange eyes locked with Suiseiseki's as she continued, "If we keep walking along the Sea of Subconscious, we might be able to reach Hinaichigo's Consciousness Field faster."

Souseiseki looked at Akaihana with confusion. "With our speed, as we are dolls, it's not possible to get to Hinaichigo that fast, especially if you consider the sped-up time. We also have a human with us," she sent a glance at Jun, "and not only that, nobody knows what a Consciousness Field is. Could you possibly explain that to us?"

Akaihana nodded. "A Consciousness Field, which is also known and simplified as C-Field or C-territory, is about the same as a N-Field in that it is also controlled by the owner of that field.

"Actually, a Consciousness Field is the rudiment, or the prototype, I suppose, of a N-Field. To understand a Consciousness Field, you have to understand what an N-Field is.

"A N-Field is created by your subconscious, a world made of your deepest dreams that you haven't realized yet. It does not necessarily mean that your N-Field will be in a shape you like outwardly, but it comes from the desires of your heart, the unattained fantasies, the ones you may have dismissed as impossible. Before your N-Field is finished, it is called a Consciousness Field. When your N-Field is almost fully realized, your subconscious then stops creating and makes a projection of itself in your N-Field. As a hidden object, it then influences your N-Field in almost imperceptible ways.

"Although a Consciousness Field is a uncompleted N-Field, a N-Field can also turn into a Consciousness Field, as with dolls. Because Hinaichigo is dead, her N-Field is no longer solid, as her consciousness has dissipated and your consciousness is what keeps your N-Field stable. Because all that is left of Hinaichigo is her subconscious, she isn't strong enough to sustain an N-Field, thus turning her N-Field back into a Consciousness Field.

"Therefore, to sum it all up, a Consciousness Field is a world that has not yet matured to a N-Field domain, or has regressed from a N-Field." Akaihana finished with a sad sigh as she summoned her watch out of thin air.

"But..." Souseiseki asked, "How could Hinaichigo know about a C-Field, when we, her older and wiser sisters, didn't?"

Akaihana smiled a warped smile, something more resembling a smirk than a smile, and raised her head to meet the Rozen Maiden's eyes.

"Hinaichigo didn't know about a C-Field, just like you."

Souseiseki's eyes widened at her declaration. A rock seemed to thud heavily inside her heart. "How come you know then?"

This time Cherriru answered, a forlorn smile plastered on her face. "That's our job."

All the Rozen Maidens looked bewildered at Cherriru.

"What do you mean by that, desu?" Suiseiseki asked with her head cocked.

"Helping our owners construct a C-Field is something we must do. This means that Hinaichigo's C-Field is made by me, her Rosa Mystica."

Everyone laughed, excluding Suigintou, who just nodded simply, relieved. Maybe, their laughs were just to conceal and joke off their uneasiness at the fact that the Rosa Mysticas knew more than them. "Then we should all hurry to Chibi-ichigo's Consciousness Field, desu!"

Akaihana held up her watch and observed it for a while.

"No problem."

Jun whipped around and scowled.

"So you do have a faster way to get to the what, A... B... C... Field!"

Akaihana nodded rather innocently.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY THAT EARLIER!"

"I should have?"

Everyone groaned. How could this doll be so cruel to them?

"YES! NOW JUST DO IT!" Jun screeched.

Suigintou continued groaning and shaking her head mournfully, feeling pity for the doll's "brains". How sad they must be, trapped in that owner of theirs. Souseiseki just sighed and sweat-dropped over and over again.

Akaihana shrugged and tossed the watch upwards.

"Expand!"

The clock started to stretch into many impossible shapes that ordinary metal could never dream to obtain. After some of the fancy, strange, swelling, it finally shuddered and coalesced into the form of a huge, gigantic... _watch._ Yep. It was still a watch.

A voice that rang like struck metal reverberated for miles across the Sea of Subconscious, intoning,_ [Who dares to awaken me?]_

"Me," Akaihana stated.

_[And you are?]_

"Akaihana, the thirteenth Rozen Maiden, the fifth Rosa Mystica."

_[What's your position?]_

"The leader. I'm the leader of the Rosa Mysticas."

_[Information correct. The Century Clock will start functioning now.]_

The cap flipped open, revealing the colorful handles.

_[Who is it that you will seek, Master?]_

"Hinaichigo."

_[Command received.]_

The rose colored handle glowed blindingly, forcing the dolls to raise their hands to cover their eyes. When the light faded and their eyes were open again, the surface of the clock had changed into a window. What was happening inside the screen was blurred, and they soon realized that it was because the scenery was switching around in a rapid speed.

After a long while of patient waiting, Akaihana spoke.

"Century Clock, time is wasting. Have you found it?"

The scenes slowed down.

_[The location is discovered; the world closest to sixth doll's C-Field has been found. The entrance to that world will be transported and opened here in ten seconds."_

Akaihana nodded her head, and raised her arm in the speed of lightning.

"Contract."

The clock went through the same procedure that it took to grow, just that this time it shrunk. Akaihana leaped up in the air to catch it, not wanting to squander the time that it would take for the watch to fall, and made the watch disappear from her hand with a squeeze. It looked as if the watch had splintered into many microscopic pieces.

Just one blink of an eye later, an N-field entrance that shone with white light appeared. What was strange was that the light wasn't searing but at the same time it seemed blinding. However, they had long gotten used to the fact that when you were dealing with their lives, everything was, is, and will always be over the top. Akaihana walked up to it and stepped inside the whiteness and turned.

"Are you ready? We need to go."

The Rozen Maidens stared at Akaihana with amazement, the earlier scene still stuck in their heads.

"Yes! Of course we're ready to leave, desu!" Suiseiseki said, lifting her case as she headed towards the doorway with everybody else following her one by one.

"Hinaichigo! We're coming, kashira!" Kanaria said with certainty, drying tears that had begun flowing without her notice.

"We're coming."

.

..

...

When a person moves, their shadow moves with them.

That is undeniable.

This group of people has a shadow of their own, one that is caused by fire and flames and **pain**, one that is fueled by vengeance and sorrow and _hate_—

And like them, it is active.

Kaenshado crouched in the corner; her head resting on her knees while her cardinal-colored eyes stared at something faraway. Very quietly, she raised her hand and clutched a lock of her black hair and rubbed it. The pieces of sharp glass scattered on the ground reflected her image brokenly. She picked up a fragment and glanced at herself. Her eyes were sad, her lips were pursed tightly and her hair was uneven. It looked hideous.

Her tresses looked like a child's first attempt at cutting paper. It was carelessly snipped. Some brushed her shoulders, some hung all the way down to her waist, and some slashed diagonally across her face, lying on her nose. Kaenshado swiped at the hair in front her eyes and tucked it behind her ear.

She remembered that her long, dark, hair, wasn't like this before. She used to have very pretty, neat, straight hair. Every strand had been the same length, unlike now. It had looked so clean and refreshing, it had been so...

Kaenshado closed her eyes, but the image of herself in the past was starting to blur. She sighed and decided to stop recalling the memories of times so long ago. Instead, she clasped a hand on the corner of a table and raised herself up.

_Creak... Creak... Creak..._

The grating of mechanic clockwork echoed from upstairs and Kaenshado wasn't surprised when she saw a doll wearing plain servant's clothes come down from the stairs. It turned its head, and its gears squeaked, proving that its body wasn't very flexible. Blank eyeballs rolled in their sockets and finally detected the presence of Kaenshado. The eyes stayed on her the moment they fell onto the other doll and the wooden figure didn't move for next few seconds.

"Who. Are. You." It said, words choppy and tone lacking emotion.

It sounded as if it was droning on because it was bored. The words had probably been programmed into the doll, along with the command to say the phrase to everyone foreign who came in, Kaenshado mused. It would be interesting if they could make a prototype like this but more successful.

"I'm here to talk to your master." Kaenshado answered smoothly.

The servant doll's wooden chin dropped and its eyes glowed a sickening red. A sharp dagger slid out from the bottom of the handle of the feather duster that the doll was holding. Slowly, with its gears clanking louder and faster, it raised the weapon and pointed at Kaenshado.

"I protect master... I protect master..." It chanted robotically.

Kaenshado crouched down in a neutral stance, fists clenched; her mind clear and ready for battle.

There was the roar of a motor, and the two wooden wheels that were the servant doll's legs started spinning, creating a buzzing sound. When all the clanking, the chanting, the roaring, the buzzing reach their highest peak in sound, it charged at Kaenshado, aiming the knife at her chest.

Kaenshado just stood there calmly, waiting for the attack, before she extended one arm, and pounced at the servant doll.

_SMACK!_

"I protect master... I protect master... I protect master... I protect master... I protect master..." The arms of the servant doll thrashed with slight panic as the other doll pinned it down.

"I protect master... I protect master... I protect master... " The doll repeated, still waving the dagger around, eager to stab it inside Kaenshado, who was clutching its head tightly.

I protect master... I protect master..." The doll's movements slowed down along with its words.

"I protect master... I... I... protect... pro... " The intonations faltered as Kaenshado used her strength and pressed down hard onto the servant doll's head.

"I protect—" And it broke.

The servant doll's head fell and crashed into the ground and rolled in a circle. Even though it was separated from the torso, the jaw was still moving. It opened and closed, opened and closed, open and closed, opened... until the clockwork let out one the last, final, squeal, and the doll was motionless. It lay, body and head apart, eyes even more dull than before.

"Servant doll... What's going on? So noisy... " Enju's croaking voice rang out feebly.

Kaenshado raised her head and looked at the direction of the rooms upstairs. Slowly, the doll supported herself with the railings, despite her height, and headed upstairs. While she walked, she noticed how short the steps were and how the railing was designed to look like a fence, with two lines crossing the vertical poles. It seemed as if... it was made for something small, like a doll, to hold on as it made its way up. Kaenshado felt something deep inside of her stir in happiness.

Would she be able to meet her today?

"Why are you not answering? Is your clockwork getting rusty and stiff again? What's wrong?"

Kaenshado reached the end of the stairs, crimson eyes finding the sick man lying on the bed. Enju raised his head slowly, as if the simple movement pained him to do, and peered closely at the doll in front of him.

"Servant doll! What's wrong wi—"

Enju couldn't continue. His eyes widened, his appearance verging on more than frightening because the whites of his eyes were now pink and approaching a bright shade of red.

"_Hisashiburi,"_ she grinned, voice clear as a bell. "Long time no see, Enju."

"It's... you?"

"Yes, it is I." Kaenshado smiled a wicked smile.

Fear overcame Enju and his breathing increased its pace. He glared at her, even though he knew he didn't look intimidating with his sickly appearance, sunken eyes, and eye bags.

"You... You... Are you here for retribution?"

Kaenshado nodded her head firmly, her smile still so bright it was rebarbative.

Enju sighed.

"You don't need to trouble yourself. I have already received my punishment... Just look at the state I am in right now."

The doll's smiled widened, scintillating, as if she was savoring this fact.

"You being poisoned is because of _me_; did you know that?"

Enju felt like screaming, and almost did so, even though he would lose face, but it was coughs that came from his lips instead of accusations.

"Why are you doing this to me? She... she will be unhappy. She **is** unhappy."

Kaenshado's eyes narrowed. For the first time since she had entered the house, the doll's whole being emitted pure, unadulterated, malice.

"But it was you who had took that child from me! It was your fault that I had become such an evil person! You took my happiness from me with that simple act! I hate you! Words alone cannot, can NEVER, explain how much I HATE you. I want you dead! Dead at any cost! DEAD!"

Enju was trembling, his yellowed hands holding his head.

"But I-I-I...To you...I-I-I was... Always..."

"Besides Rozen also wanted you like... this." Kaenshado said offhandedly, gesturing towards his dilapidated state, and dousing Enju with another shower of cold water.

"What?" He said in disbelief.

"And to me... you are... _nothing._ I thought you knew who I loved."

Enju's heart shattered at her words. The pain was so unbearable that it brought tears, and he cried, in spite of the fact that he was a man, a prideful man.

"What? Servant doll? SERVANT DOLL? What's going on? Father! My Father!"

Barasuishou's panic-stricken voice was heard from downstairs.

Kaenshado quickly leaped onto the windowsill and pushed the windows open. She turned, smiled again, and said, "Take care of yourself, yes? And please hurry up and die quickly please."

Her smile was dazzling, but smiling such a smile in a situation like this... it was the feeling that she was savoring their pain that led people to fear her and others of the same mentality. Kaenshado turned back around and vanished instantaneously. Enju, agitated and apprehensive, could do nothing but stare at his open window, shaking without respite.

"Father! Are you hurt?" The scared voice of Barasuishou rushed up to his ears.

The man quickly wiped his tears away and angled his head toward the door. His doll of a daughter was there, panting and looking back at him.

"Father, are you hurt? Did you hear me at all?"

"Ungh... I'm fine."

"What happened to the servant doll."

"I don't know." He answered and stared at the window Kaenshado had disappeared from.

"She is as beautiful as before... " he said softly

"What did you say, Father?"

"Oh, nothing. Really."

* * *

_**Notes: Hisashiburi = Long time no see.**_

Scarlet: Finally. Just... finally.

Gellie: And Scarlet . Gellie HA HA HA is back in commission!

Scarlet: We're going to be awesome and gift you with two chappies today. Cuz we LIVED.

Gellie: Haha, yeah. Now shush it.

Scarlet: WE LIVED!

*pause* Did we exchange personalities?

Gellie: No. You're just too hyped up on sugar, and I'm not really morning person. SO THERE.

Scarlet: Makes sense. We were talking too much last night about our story when we went to bed.

Yup, that's right peoples. We had a...

Gellie: SLEEPOVER! And we made a lot of good progress with our story. :)

Scarlet: Stop stealing my emoticons! D:

Gellie: Emoticons are for everybody! =3=

Scarlet: But I'm in this pair who uses emoticons! ToT

Gellie: Orz


	9. Chapter 8: Aspirations

Chapter 8

«Aspirations»

* * *

Two doors. That's all they had in front of them; two doors. Nothing more.

"Neh... There's still two more." Souseiseki said, eyes half-lidded in exhaustion, mind planning out how they should proceed.

"Oi! Eggplant head! What wrong with that stupid watch of yours, desu? Why did it bring us here? Is it making things harder on purpose, desu?"

Akaihana covered her hand with her mouth and coughed to get everyone's attention. "Please show some respect," she answered, looking a bit upset about her nickname.

Suiseiseki blushed and lowered her head in deference. Her eyes looked at Akaihana carefully, thinking that her words might had made the doll angry. "I'm sorry desu..."

Akaihana looked as placid as ever, calmly nodding to Suiseiseki, indicating that she was forgiven, and then taking out the Century Clock again, dangling it in the air. "The Century Clock is the same as always. It still likes to trouble people." Akaihana spoke as if the watch was as annoying as Yukihani, whom, everybody knew, she thought of as annoying to the highest degree.

"But! The Century Clock isn't a stupid watch." Akaihana said, glancing at Suiseiseki and then switching her attention back to everybody.

"The Century Clock is one of your Father's personal items," she continued, corners of her mouth quirking up into a small smile, "and is the most impressive thing Rozen has ever made, excluding you Rozen Maidens, of course."

Suiseiseki raised her head in excitement. "Really, desu?"

"If it is the second best of Father's works, then what's so remarkable about it?" Souseiseki interrupted.

Oddly enough, Souseiseki had been quite rude and harsh lately. Where was her usual politeness? Did she dislike Akaihana that much? No, it wasn't hate; Souseiseki had never seemed to trust the Rosa Mysticas. She thought that their sudden appearances and descriptions were just too... vague. Also, for some reason, Souseiseki didn't know why, they seemed to be hiding something. It didn't seem like they were plotting anything bad but it looks as if they were keeping these things away for their sake. Souseiseki found it weird how they seemed to protect them like they were useless little children when... they could fend for themselves.

_Could they?_

Souseiseki tensed her body when the urge of shuddering came upon her and brought her mind back the present, listening to Akaihana's answer.

"The reason this work is outstanding because this very watch has emotions, a mind, and can make decisions." The corners of the doll's mouth curled upwards into a small, knowing, smile.

"A clock that is like a human, desu?" Suiseiseki said, half gasping and half whispering.

"But the problem is that this thing here," Akaihana said, pointing at the watch, "likes fooling around with people. Look, I am sure that it could send us directly to Hinaichigo's C-field, but..." She glanced at the two doors, "We still ended up here anyways."

The deep, masculine, voice of the clock rung out again, its timbre mildly entertained, perhaps by their situation.

_[If you chose correctly, you will be in the safe zone. If you choose wrongly, you will be sent to the world of death. This is a game of fate, so you are by yourselves.] _

"Century Clock, you are as irritating as always. How can you still pull such a prank in a situation like this? This is a situation of life and death! And not only our own!" Akaihana admonished, hanging the watch in front of her face and pointing at it, looking for the entire world like she was scolding a child.

[_But it's more amusing this way..._]

Hearing that, Akaihana bonked the clock hard. It let out a huge shuddering groan, a sound that resembled the creak of a rusted iron door.

"This thing's personality is similar to that rabbit's." Suigintou remarked.

"Do you mean that it is as CUTE as me?" Yukihani said, eyes shining.

"No, I meant Laplace, you dead rabbit coney." Suigintou growled with an irritated air.

_Please remind me why I'm here again? _She reflected in her mind.

Akaihana couldn't do anything about the clock's arrogance and the other two doll's quarreling. She shook her head, made the watch disappear the way she always did and pondered her next step instead.

"Honestly, I don't care which is the right door!" It was Cherriru who had torn Akaihana from her thinking. Akaihana whipped around and saw Cherriru barreling recklessly towards the doors.

_NO! Cherriru! Why can't she ever be patient? _Akaihana admonished in her mind.

Hachidori acted fast. She ran after the doll with a speed that outstripped the wind, reaching out. Hachidori reached out and her fingers grasped onto Cherriru's sleeve within a few seconds. Cherriru panicked. "Let go of me! LET GO OF ME! I'M GOING TO SAVE HINAICHIGO! LET GO!" she screamed angrily, scratching at Hachidori's hands frantically.

Hachidori just squeezed her eyes shut and tried to block out the pain. Ducking the punches aimed towards her head, she sighed heavily. "We have to... to... listen to the leader." Hachidori said calmly, panting mildly from exertion.

Cherriru stopped her frenzied attacks. She shook her head, looking down at the ground in shame. "What's wrong with me?"

Saying that, she permitted herself to be let back to Akaihana and the others by Hachidori. Cherriru's eyes were shut too and looked as if she was blaming herself. She was too impatient about rescuing her owner. Maybe it was because the burden of the promise she had made with Kanaria had pushed her usual composure off the edge. Letting out one more weighted exhale, she gently held Hachidori's wounded hand. "I'm sorry. Does it hurt?"

Hachidori shook her head and Cherriru released a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.

Now everyone was looking at Akaihana for orders. She paused, the silence weighing heavily on them all, and then finally spoke. "Yukihani. Choose which door we should go into."

"Hai, deyo!"

"WHATTT?!"

All the Rozen Maidens were shocked, and the Rosa Mysticas were confused too. Why would the normally levelheaded, logical, and intelligent, Akaihana choose the annoying, playful, trouble-making, Yukihani?

"Why did Akaihana choose the baka chibi ushagi? Could it be that baka ushagi has a strong inner, potential, ability, desu?" Suiseiseki said as she gave the doll's cheek a good, sharp pinch.

Yukihanai just smiled innocently and cocked her head the way she usually did, allowing Suiseiseki to pull and pinch her cheeks.

"If Chibi-ushagi really has potential powers... then... why does she still look and act so stupid and foolish, desu?"

Yukihani's smile slipped at hearing this.

"What do you mean by stupwid and foooolish deyo? Yukihani isn't foooooooolish! I'm charmingly naive! DEYO!"

Suigintou massaged her temples tiredly. Just being this dead rabbit coney's owner made her lose so much face...

"You're all wrong." Akaihana said, hands on her hips.

"Then why would you choose Yukihani, desu!"

Akaihana rolled her eyes exasperatedly.

"Because if Yukihani chooses the wrong door and dies, I won't be sad at all. Right, Suigintou?"

Suigintou nodded, as if the matter of Yukihani dying was light. Seeing this, Yukihani pouted and immediately began crying. "WAAAAAAA, DEYO! Swuigintou-samwa's so mean! Why are you treating me like thissss, deyo?! Yukihani really really really really really likes Swuigintou-samwa!"

"Akaihana, can you please stop kidding around?" Hachidori asked, polite as always, as she used her handkerchief to wipe Yukihani's wet face.

Akaihana frowned a bit and raised her head a bit higher.

"I'm not playing around at all! This thing here," she said, flicking her finger on Yukihani's forehead, "Has so much luck that it isn't even funny. She won't die." Akaihana said, head rising ever higher than before as she made an insulting snort at Yukihani.

Yukihani stopped crying and a bright, sunny, smile appeared on her face.

"YEAH! DEYO! I have really really good luck! And I have a LOT of it! I have so much luck that all of it piled up will rival Mt. ELVIST!"

A huge ball of sweat rolled down Hachidori's head. "What? E-E-Elvis? You mean the pop star with the strange hair that I saw once while watching a documentary with Akaihana? I'm sure you're actually talking about Mt. Everest... right?"

Akaihana snorted again.

"Anyways, my choice is always correct. "

Yukihani puffed out her chest, believing Akaihana's offensive words were actually compliments.

"You should go."

"Understood deyo!" Yukihani cried, flashing her trademark blazing smile and bouncing up to the two doors.

She then placed her hand under her chin, rubbed it, and scrunched up her brow to look very concentrated.

"Y... Yu... Yuki... Yukihani... Gan... Gan... Ganbate!" Gankorika suddenly shouted, making Kanaria, who was standing in front of her, jump. The grey haired doll never realized that the doll was there so it really scared her when she suddenly heard a foreign voice from behind her.

"Yes! Wakarimashta, deyo! Thank you so much, Gankorika!" There were golden stars in her eyes again.

"Yukihani... " Even Gankorika's pale orbs were sparkling.

"Gan-chan!"

"Yuki-chan!"

"Kori-chan～ "

"Ha-chan～ "

"_Ka-chan_!"

"_Ni-chan_!"

Both of the dolls glanced at each other with weirded out looks at what they called each other before Yukihani shrugged and opened her mouth to start again, sucking in a huge breath of air. "HAAAAAA~" she inhaled. "ELE—"

Before she got the chance to finish, two red ribbons flew out of nowhere and smacked both Yukihani and Gankorika on the head. Hard.

"Stop acting like you're auditioning for a soap opera! Choose one of the doors!" Akaihana roared, her small universe exploding.

"Hehe... Seriously, deyo... Akaihana is so fierce... She killed the mood! Meanie! Meanie!" Yukihani chirped, turning around.

Both of the doors were decorated with mildly abstract patterns that wove around the frames and symbols that covered the doorknob and the wood surrounding it.

Yukihani strode up to the two doors and sat right down in the middle of the two. She had her head on her hands, and somehow stared intently at both doors at the same time, eyes bugging out slightly as her brows furrowed. Yukihani was... trying to look serious.

"Hmmmm..."

Everyone looked up, holding his or her breath, expressions hopeful, except for Suigintou, who seemed as bored as she could be. Maybe Yukihani did have a special power.

"Hmmmmm..."

The whole group looked forward, ears straining to catch even the faintest of noises.

"Hmmmmmm...

"Hmmmmmm...

"Hmmmmmm..."

Yukihani continuously repeated.

Suiseiseki slammed her fist on the door on the right, breaking the group's overall silence. "Oi! Baka chibi-ushagi, desu! Which door is it?"

"Hmmmmmmm..."

"Hellooo? Desu? Chibi-ushagi? Which door should we go in?" She huffed.

"HmmmmmmmmMMMMMMMM..."

Suiseiseki began screaming now. "BAKA! CHIBI! USHAGI! ARE YOU DEAAAAAAAAAAFFF—?"

Yukihani cut in, not that her interruption stopped Suiseiseki's noise. "HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!"

Akaihana, fed up with Yukihani's posturing, whipped out a ribbon and smacked her again. Hard.

"OWWWWWWWWWWWWWIEEEEE, DEYOOO! WHAT WAS THAT FOR, YOU MEANIE?"

Yukihani started wailing, beginning a nice screeching two-part song with Suiseiseki, who had been screaming unceasingly since her last sentence, infuriated that she had been cut off and trying to demand attention.

Akaihana put her hands on her hips, glaring. "I am tired of listening to your humming. Do you know which door is Hinaichigo's or not, Yukihani?"

"Hmmmmmm..."

"Yes?"

"Hmmmmmmmm... AHEM!"

Everyone leaned forward even more. Suigintou looked faintly interested. Suiseiseki stopped her background screaming

"Yukihani dwoesn't know. DEYO!"

"WHY ARE YOU PLAYING WITH US LIKE THAT THEN? YOU... YOU... YOU RABBIT CHICKEN?" Jun screamed, utilizing his thought-up-on-the-spot nickname for Yukihani.

"Give me a break, you dead rabbit coney. Please." Suigintou said, rubbing her aching temples.

"SWUIGINTOU-SAMWA SAID PLEAASE! SHE SAID PLEEEEAASE! THIS IS A MILESTONE IN MY LIFE, DEYO!"

"Shut up desu! Chibu-ushagi! Iiya, Sweets-loving ushagi buta! Hai, Kure-ji buta, desu!"

"Be more serious Yukihani, Suiseiseki; Hinaichigo is dying. Stop wasting time," said Cherriru bitterly.

Yukihani paused, eyes widening when she realized what she was doing.

"Gomenasai, deyo, Cherri-chan! I got carried away; forgive me, deyo!"

"Glad to know that you can actually realize that. Now, just choose." Akaihana said as she pulled Cherriru away from Yukihani's incessant apologizing.

"I understand!"

"Good."

"Hmmmmm..."

"BAKA USHAGI BUTA, DESU!"

"Hai... Hai... Well..."

All the dolls and the person that had come with them took this moment of peace and quiet to observe the two doors laid out in front of them. One had a complex weaving of strawberry vines looping around the frame with light pink symbols inscribed on the beige wood of the door, while the other had a simplistic, long, white squiggle scribbled on the frame. Symbols of a similar color stood out on a mahogany background.

"Hmmmm... I think..."

Jun sweat dropped. Wasn't the answer obvious? Hinaichigo controlled strawberry vines after all, and the symbols Cherriru had displayed earlier were the same shade as those on the door. What was the Rabbit Chicken still deliberating about?

Kanaria voiced his thoughts. "Yukihani, wouldn't the one with the strawberries be the right choice? After all, we are searching for Hinaichigo, and not someone who controls scrawled white lines."

"Let me decide deyo! Yukihani was the one who was chosen by Akaihana."

Akaihana glared. "The answer is staring you right in the face. You are the only one who hasn't realized it yet."

"But... but... but... Yukihani doesn't know what the other door is representing yet, deyo! So she can't make a concrete decision!"

Hachidori's brows furrowed. "Are you feeling quite alright, Yukihani?"

Yukihani just looked at her blankly. "Huh, deyo?"

"It's just that... I would have thought the phrase "concrete decision" is an expression that is well beyond what the extent of your vocabulary should entail."

The confusion in the doll's green eyes increased further. "Huuuuuh? Deyo?"

Gankorika sighed. "S-she said that s-she didn't think you knew the ph-phrase "concrete decision", Yu-Yukihani," she explained patiently.

The doll blinked innocently at her. "But... that's an easy phrase! "Concrete decision"! I'm not stupid, deyo!"

Everyone stared at her.

She looked back steadily. "What, deyo?"

"Are you sure about that, sude?"

"Don't be mean, Tsukigin! I am VERY smart!"

"I have to agree with my sister on this. Are. You. Sure?"

Yukihani pouted. Again. It was becoming a regular occurrence. "Tsuuukiiikiiiin-chaaaan! Don't tag team with Tsukigin on me!"

"What!? How come she gets a "chan" but I don't, sude?"

Orange eyes glowered at the bickering trio. "Enough! Yukihani, if you wish to prove that you are indeed... _not stupid... _then lead us through the right door. And figure out what that second door represents."

"Okay!" With that said, she plopped her bunny covered body onto the ground again.

Tsukigin had a feeling this was going to be a very long wait.

So did Tsukikin.

And they both firmly believed in that statement until Yukihani jumped up in excitement not 30 seconds after she had sat down. "I know how to know what the second door means! At least I think I do! I wonder...?"

Kanaria pulled a Yukihani and pouted. "Don't steal my catchphrase, kashira."

Suiseiseiki ignored Kanaria in favor of rejoicing that something had finally been accomplished. "Ah, good job then, desu. So tell us now— Wait! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

In a split second, Yukihani had sprinted to stand in front of the second door and spun around in a half turn.

"Haaa-yaaaaah!"

With that, she pulled off a rather impressive backwards flip, and finished in a handstand.

It wasn't the flip Suiseiseiki was screaming about. She didn't care if Yukihani fell on the ground. She wouldn't get hurt, anyways. Not much, at least.

Nor was it the handstand. The upside-down doll was situated rather firmly, her hands holding her body up stably.

It was the flip and the handstand combined with the fact that _Yukihani was wearing a dress_.

Newton's law was still alive and kicking, even when there were N-fields with floating doors. And it chose this time to kick in, pulling Yukihani to the ground so she wouldn't float around like a bloated balloon, but also dragging down material along with it.

Jun froze, while screaming inside himself to turn and look away the minute he had calculated what was going to happen next. Luckily, somebody else saved him the trouble.

_SMACK!_

A red ribbon slammed across his eyes and wrapped itself around his head ten or more times, creating an admirable, on-the-fly, blindfold.

"OW! WATCH IT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"DON'T ASK ME "WHAT I AM DOING"! ISN'T IT OBVIOUS? I'M PROTECTING YOUR VIRTUE! WHAT ELSE COULD IT BE? BESIDES, YOU ARE WEARING GLASSES! HOW WILL MY RIBBONS HURT YOU?"

"Oh, right."

"Is Jun a visual thinker? Oh ho ho ho ho..."

"Nee-chan, sude... Just... no."

"You always have to spoil my fun sister." Tsukikin frowned.

"TSUKIGIN! TSUKIKIN! STOP ANNOYING EACH OTHER! AND YOU! YUKIHANI! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! WHERE IS YOUR CHASITY? HAVE YOU NO SHAME?!" Akaihana bellowed.

"Nah, I figured that someone will cover Jun-jun's eyes up for me! And I knew it would be Swuigintou-samwa!"

"No, your prediction is wrong, dead rabbit coney. It's the eggplant head that helped you out. I'm busy covering my own eyes."

"Anyways, Yukihani," Akaihana said in a business-woman manner, "What does the second door represent?"

The doll addressed giggled before a crashing sound echoed through the room they were in, followed by a loud sound of pain. "It's okay! Yukihani is standing upright now!"

Sighs of relief filled the air as the other occupants finally allowed themselves to see once again.

"Yukihani. What does the second door represent?"

"It's an upside down rabbit. Duh."

Somebody in the back muttered, "Like you were, just seconds ago."

Intrigued, some of the dolls craned their necks to have a good look.

"It's true," Souseiseki said honestly. "Although how she came to the conclusion that it was upside-down just by looking at it is a mystery to me."

"Ah!" The hero of the hour laughed. "It's easy. Yukihani couldn't figure out what it was just by looking at it straight, so I decided that it must be something if it were upside-down!"

Akaihana looked pleased.

"Very good thinking Yukihani, for once. So let's go back to the original question, which door should we go into?"

"The one with the bwunny on it, of course!"

The whole room stared at the seemingly halfway insane Yukihani. _What? Why?_

"Because although the strawberries represent Hinaichigo, she's our goal at the end. You never know, the Century Clock might have lied to us. It does that all the time. So this might not be the step to the goal! Since Yukihani's the chooser, she has to choose the door that means something to her! And that's the door with the bwunny! DEYO!"

Suiseiseiki gaped at Yukihani, flabbergasted. "How... What... Why... Who... When... WHEN DID YOU DEVELOP A BRAIN, DESUUUUU?"

"An ushagi has brains, deyo!"

"YOU'RE NOT AN USHAGI! DESU! YOU'RE A DOLL!"

"But you always call me that."

"IT'S A FIGURE OF SPEECH! YOU'RE NOT REALLY AN USHAGI, DESU! AND HERE I THOUGHT YOU WERE GETTING SMARTER!"

Hachidori, who had disappeared somewhere around "when did you develop a brain", materialized in front of Yukihani, holding a dripping, cold, towel.

"I know dolls don't get sick, but with your state, I can't help but wonder... Is it possible? Your symptoms include suddenly spouting words of wisdom, and..." Hachidori droned on and on, pressing the soaking wet cloth to Yukihani's forehead. "Maybe you should take some medicine? However that may be possible? Or I could try scraping massages...? Ah, perhaps acupuncture on the brain will do the trick..."

"I'm not sick, deyo! I don't want to take any medicine! Don't scrape my skin with metal spoons! And definitely don't poke sharp things into my brain!" Yukihani shrieked, backing away from Hachidori, whose eyes were gleaming.

"Yeah, " Kanaria piped in, "She's messed up enough in the head already, kashira."

Cherriru looked grave. "But that doesn't explain why she's acting so odd. Should we test her for possession?"

There was a flash of black.

"Rabbit, just go in the door you want. I shall watch in pleasure as you, an annoyance, vanishes off the face of the world forever." Suigintou said, smirking.

"Hai, deyo!"

"D-don't l-leave m-me alone! Yukihani-c-ch-chan!" Gankorika wailed, before bursting into tears and sobbing into her handkerchief.

"It will be okay, Kori-chi! I won't die! You heard Akaihana! I have a pile of luck the size of Mt. Elvis!"

_Somewhere..._ Elvis sneezes. _Somewheerreee..._

"I thought we went over this already Yukihani, there is no mountain named "Mt. Elvis", or "Mt. Elvist". There is, however, a mountain named Mt. Everest, and that is the tallest mountain on the earth. Repeat after me. Mount. Ev-er-est."

"Hai, Hachi-sensei! Mount. El-vis-ist."

"MY NAME IS NOT EIGHT! AND IT'S MOUNT EV-ER-EST!"

"Elvis-erest!"

"NO~ NO~ NO~! EVVVV-ERRRR-ESSSTTT!"

"Elverisest? No! Elvis-everest!"

"Forget it. It's hopeless. _She's_ hopeless," muttered Suigintou.

"Ano," Souseiseki said, "Can Yukihani just open the door first? Time is fast here, in the Sea, you said."

Yukihani's eyes sparkled unnervingly.

"Under the SEEAAAA deyo~ UNDER DAAAA SEEEEAAAAAA—" she screeched.

"SHUT UP USHAGI! DON'T YOU DARE MOCK SOUSEISEKI, DESU!"

"More like she's mocking herself by being so idiotic, sude."

"True, that."

"Akaihana, I thought you said I was smart, deyoooo."

"I never voiced such an opinion. Now open the door."

"Yes, do so Yukihani. I can feel that Hinaichigo only has at most 30 minutes left until I will be unable to resurrect her."

"Is that so?" They all exclaimed, hearts racing as they wondered how were they going to make it.

"Move it, Yukihani, desu!"

"HAI, DEYO!"

The doll stepped up to the door and swung it open.

【Uerukamu Nanoooooo~】

A faint, ghostly, cry echoed through the door as it slowly creaked open.

It was Hinaichigo's voice. Her tones, her inflections, her pet phrase.

Seriously? The bunny door was actually the portal that lead to the C-field?

"This world is messed up," Suigintou snarled.

"It is quite messed up already, with living, talking, dolls, and floating crystals that can turn into images of aforementioned dolls," Akaihana said.

"Add annoying to that list too!" Jun cried.

Everyone glared at him, except for Yukihani who just smiled.

"28 minutes left." Akaihana said impatiently.

Everyone jolted when they heard her words. 28 minutes? That's it?

Not wanting to waste anymore time, they all rushed into the door.

Or least, they tried to.

Blocking their way was Hinaichigo, nestled in the lap of Corrine.

* * *

(Okay, so Corrine used to be Odette, but then we realized that the scantalator's mistranslated Odille, which is the real name of the girl with Kirakishou's ring, to Odette. And that Corrine was the medium for Hinaichigo, instead of her granddaughter Odille. Don't think too much about it; it'll make you kinda confused.)

Gellie: CLIFFFHANGER! Now I have to go play piano so 88~

Scarlet: Unreviewing readers, we have gifted you with another chapter. So be thankful and REVIEW.

If you don't then you're a moron.

~Scarlet and Gellie


	10. Christmas Bonus!

**Rozen Singing**

(Sung in the tune of "Jingle Bells")

Dashing through the snow  
In an open rabbit sleigh  
O'er the fields we go  
Fighting all the way (Oh ho ho ho)  
The sleigh was really heavy  
Making Jun-jun cry  
The rabbit was too cheery  
We should pity the glasses guy

Oh, Rozen singing, Rozen singing  
Can you imagine that?  
Oh, what horror it is to ride  
In an open rabbit sleigh(hey, deyo!)  
Rozen singing, Rozen singing  
Can you imagine that?  
Oh, what horror it is to ride  
In an chibi human sleigh (desu)

A hour or two ago  
Rozen thought he'd sing outside  
And soon Miss Fanny Bright  
Was thrown out to the side  
We stole the sleigh and ran  
We couldn't stand the sound  
We got away from the man  
And then he just frowned

Oh, Rozen singing, Rozen singing  
Can you imagine that?  
Oh, what horror it is to ride  
In an open rabbit sleigh (hey, deyo)  
Rozen singing, Rozen singing  
Can you imagine that?  
Oh, what horror it is to ride  
In an chibi human sleigh (desu)

Oh, Rozen singing, Rozen singing  
Can you imagine that?  
Oh, what horror it is to ride  
In an open rabbit sleigh (hey, deyo)  
Rozen singing, Rozen singing  
Can you imagine that?  
Oh, what horror it is to ride  
In an chibi human sleigh (sude!)

**Have a Hollier Jolly Christmas**

(Parody of Have a Holly Jolly Christmas)

_Gellie: This song was not as funny as Rozen Singing... and is a bit... confusing  
_

Have a Hollier jolly Christmas  
It's the best time of the year (that's right!)  
I just know that there'll be snow  
Cause Yukihani is here (deyo!)

Have a Hollier jolly Christmas  
And when you walk through N-fields (le gasp)  
Try not to make foes of the dolls you don't know  
Or if you fight just make them yield (never!)

Ohohoho, that light's aglow  
Be careful; that's the key (to what?)  
Somebody (me, desu!) waits for you  
Make an ally of her for me (no way!)

Have a Hollier jolly Christmas  
And in case you didn't hear (you deaf?)  
Oh, by the dollies  
Have a Hollier jolly Christmas  
This year (As if!)

Oh, what a folly  
You won't have a Hollier jolly Christmas  
This year (Hehe)

**The Rozen Maiden's Twelve Day of Christmas**

(We are quite sure that it is obvious what parody this is. If you can't tell, grow a brain please)**  
**

On the first day of Christmas,  
Rozen sent to me  
An Alice Egg in a pantry.

On the second day of Christmas,  
Rozen sent to me  
Two Lempikas,  
And an Alice Egg in a pantry.

On the third day of Christmas,  
Rozen sent to me  
Three Rose Tails,  
Two Lempikas,  
And an Alice Egg in a pantry.

On the fourth day of Christmas,  
Rozen sent to me  
Four shrieking dolls,  
Three Rose Tails,  
Two Lempikas,  
And an Alice Egg in a pantry.

On the fifth day of Christmas,  
Rozen sent to me  
Five lolicons, (And a pedo)  
(Rozen Maidens: NOOOOOOO!)  
Four shrieking dolls,  
Three Rose Tails,  
Two Lempikas,  
And an Alice Egg in a pantry.

On the sixth day of Christmas,  
Rozen sent to me  
Six people becoming... _Gellie's note: This line is connected to the fourth and the fifth day_  
Five lolicons, (And a pedo) _Scarlet note: Don't forget to add "And a pedo" after five lolicons_._ It's said monotone._  
(Rozen Maidens: NOOOOOOO!)  
Four shrieking dolls,  
Three Rose Tails,  
Two Lempikas,  
And an Alice Egg in a pantry.

On the seventh day of Christmas,  
Rozen sent to me  
Seven Megus a-singing,  
Six people becoming...  
Five lolicons, (And a pedo)  
(Rozen Maidens: NOOOOOOO!)  
Four shrieking dolls,  
Three Rose Tails,  
Two Lempikas,  
And an Alice Egg in a pantry.

On the eighth day of Christmas,  
Rozen sent to me  
Eight Enjus enjuing,  
Seven Megus a-singing,  
Six people becoming...  
Five lolicons, (And a pedo)  
(Rozen Maidens: NOOOOOOO!)  
Four shrieking dolls,  
Three Rose Tails,  
Two Lempikas,  
And an Alice Egg in a pantry.

On the ninth day of Christmas,  
Rozen sent to me  
Nine Bara-Baras dancing,  
Eight Enjus enjuing,  
Seven Megus a-singing,  
Six people becoming...  
Five lolicons, (And a pedo)  
(Rozen Maidens: NOOOOOOO!)  
Four shrieking dolls,  
Three Rose Tails,  
Two Lempikas,  
And an Alice Egg in a pantry.

On the tenth day of Christmas,  
Rozen sent to me  
Ten Kira-Kiras leaping,  
Nine Bara-Baras dancing,  
Eight Enjus enjuing,  
Seven Megus a-singing,  
Six people becoming...  
Five lolicons, (And a pedo)  
(Rozen Maidens: NOOOOOOO!)  
Four shrieking dolls,  
Three Rose Tails,  
Two Lempikas,  
And an Alice Egg in a pantry.

On the eleventh day of Christmas,  
Rozen sent to me  
Eleven snobby Suigintous,  
Ten Kira-Kiras leaping,  
Nine Bara-Baras dancing,  
Eight Enjus enjuing,  
Seven Megus a-singing,  
Six people becoming...  
Five lolicons, (And a pedo)  
(Rozen Maidens: NOOOOOOO!)  
Four shrieking dolls,  
Three Rose Tails,  
Two Lempikas,  
And an Alice Egg in a pantry.

On the twelfth day of Christmas,  
Rozen sent to me  
Twelve Laplaces giggling,  
Eleven snobby Suigintous  
Ten Kira-Kiras leaping,  
Nine Bara-Baras dancing,  
Eight Enjus enjuing,  
Seven Megus a-singing,  
Six people becoming...  
Five lolicons, (And a pedo)  
(Rozen Maidens: NOOOOOOO!)  
Four shrieking dolls,  
Three Rose Tails,  
Two Lempikas,  
And an Alice Egg in a pantry.

**Bunnies Go Where I Send You**

(Parody of the choir version of "Children Go Where I Send Thee")

Bunnies go where I send you  
How shall I send you  
I'm gonna send you one by one  
One for the itty-bitty, Swuigintou  
Ri-ight he-ere, in chibi Jun's house

Bunnies go where I send you  
How shall I send you  
I'm gonna send you two by two  
Two for Tomoe and Nori  
One for the itty-bitty, Swuigintou  
Ri-ight he-ere, in chibi Jun's house

Bunnies go where I send you  
How shall I send you  
I'm gonna send you three by three  
Three for Akai(pause)hana  
Two for Tomoe and Nori  
One for the itty-bitty, Swuigintou  
Ri-ight he-ere, in chibi Jun's house

Bunnies go where I send you  
How shall I send you  
I'm gonna send you four by four  
Four for Ganko-rika  
Three for Akai(pause)hana  
Two for Tomoe and Nori  
One for the itty-bitty, Swuigintou  
Ri-ight he-ere, in chibi Jun's house

Bunnies go where I send you  
How shall I send you  
I'm gonna send you five by five  
Five for Tsuki *pausepause* gin  
Four for Ganko-rika  
Three for Akai(pause)hana  
Two for Tomoe and Nori  
One for the itty-bitty, Swuigintou  
Ri-ight he-ere, in chibi Jun's house

Bunnies go where I send you  
How shall I send you  
I'm gonna send you six by six  
Six for Cherri-Cherriru  
Five for Tsuki *pausepause* gin  
Four for Ganko-rika  
Three for Akai(pause)hana  
Two for Tomoe and Nori  
One for the itty-bitty, Swuigintou  
Ri-ight he-ere, in chibi Jun's house

Bunnies go where I send you  
How shall I send you  
I'm gonna send you seven by seven  
Seven for Kaensha-ado  
Six for Cherri-Cherriru  
Five for Tsuki *pausepause* gin  
Four for Ganko-rika  
Three for Akai(pause)hana  
Two for Tomoe and Nori  
One for the itty-bitty, Swuigintou  
Ri-ight he-ere, in chibi Jun's house

Bunnies go where I send you  
How shall I send you  
I'm gonna send you eight by eight  
Eight for Hachidori and her Er Hu  
Seven for Kaensha-ado  
Six for Cherri-Cherriru  
Five for Tsuki *pausepause* gin  
Four for Ganko-rika  
Three for Akai(pause)hana  
Two for Tomoe and Nori  
One for the itty-bitty, Swuigintou  
Ri-ight he-ere, in chibi Jun's house

Bunnies go where I send you  
How shall I send you  
I'm gonna send you nine by nine  
Nine for Tsukikin, too  
Eight for Hachidori and her Er Hu  
Seven for Kaensha-ado  
Six for Cherri-Cherriru  
Five for Tsuki *pausepause* gin  
Four for Ganko-rika  
Three for Akai(pause)hana  
Two for Tomoe and Nori  
One for the itty-bitty, Swuigintou  
Ri-ight he-ere, in chibi Jun's house

Bunnies go where I send you  
How shall I send you  
I'm gonna send you ten by ten  
Ten for me, Yukihan-i  
Nine for Tsukikin, too  
Eight for Hachidori and her Er Hu  
Seven for Kaensha-ado  
Six for Cherri-Cherriru  
Five for Tsuki *pausepause* gin  
Four for Ganko-rika  
Three for Akai(pause)hana  
Two for Tomoe and Nori  
One for the itty-bitty, Swuigintou  
Ri-ight he-ere, in chibi Jun's house  
Oh we're all ri-ight he-ere, in chibi Jun's house.  
Yeah we're all ri-ight he-ere, IN. CHI. BI. JUN'S. HOOOUUUUSE!  
"NOOOOOOOOO!"

**Alice, She will Appear**

_(Parody of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer)  
_

Alice, she will appear (she is here)

Dressed in pretty clothes, (so beautiful)  
And if you ever saw her, (saw her)  
She is nice like a rose (and prickly too)

All of the other dolls, (dolls)  
were all very surprised (OMG!)  
When did Alice come here? (come here)  
She was supposed to be fried (in the pantry)

Then our snobby Suigintou,  
Walked up and said: (Tch)  
"Let's get rid of her with all our might,  
She is Enju dressed up, right?" (Ew...)

Kaenshado poisoned him, (him)  
before he could flee (Ah-ha!)  
Enju /Alice the cross dresser, (dresser)  
you'll live in misery! (Barasuishou: That's horrible)

**-Date: 12/21/12 _Dun dun dun dunnnnnnnnn_**

Gellie: So... MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Scarlet: CAAANDDDY!

Gellie: That's Halloween.

Scarlet: Who cares! I still get candy!

Gellie: By the way. You must be wondering why we are updating.

Scarlet: It's Christmas. And technically, this is still not an update. So be sad, non-reviewers!

Gellie: And you must be wondering what is an "Alice Egg?"

Scarlet: Remember the scene when Jun is sewing up Shinku's clothes and the doll explains to him about Alice? It showed a girl with feathery, plant-ish, wings who hatched from an egg.

For those of you who are slow, the girl was Alice.

For those of you who are even slower, that egg was the Alice Egg.

For those of you who are the slowest, read those sentences a couple hundred times. You'll get it then.

Gellie: And...

Scarlet: What else?

Gellie: What in the world is 'enjuing?

Scarlet: It means that someone, Enju mostly, is acting like Enju. Duh.

Gellie: Poor Alice (cries), she is getting fried up in a pantry!

**-Date: 12/22/12**_** We're aliveeeeeeee!**_

Scarlet: So. It's supposed to be dark today, y'know? But it's not. In your face, Mayans! Pwnage! IN! YO! FACE!

Gellie: Why didn't it end? I still have my stupid piano class today! ARGGGGHHH!

Scarlet: One for the lives of many, Gellie, one for the lives of manyyyy.

Anyways! We are just here to tell you guys that on this WONDERFUL WONDERFUL day, WE ARE NOW ABLE TO UPDATE!

And Gellie, if you ever pull a trick like that again, I'm going to kill you.

Gellie: Many thanks to LuvAmineRM-chan, who pulled our number of reviews to ten!

Scarlet: Even though it really shouldn't count since Gellie did two of the reviews... but whatever. I'm tired of waiting dammit.

Gellie: We won't be able to update for the next 10 days because...

Scarlet: I'm leaving for vacation.

Gellie: Yeah...

SO! MERRY CHRISTMAS! 圣诞快乐! Feliz Navidad! Kurisumasu Omideto!

Scarlet: Baka.

~Scarlet and Gellie


	11. Chapter 9: Contretemps

Chapter 9

«Contretemps»

* * *

"Hinaichigo, kashira!" Kanaria cried, trying to touch the doll.

Instead, the image flickered, and Kanaria's hand just went through.

"Hinaichigo, kashira?"

"Don't bother. She's not really here."

Kanaria turned on Akaihana angrily. "How can you say that, kashira? Don't be so mean! Hinaichigo is here!"

"No, she's just a projection. The real Hinaichigo is somewhere in her C-field. Of what's left of her, at least."

"What do you mean, desu? And why is Corinne here? I thought she died, desu."

"All that is left of Hinaichigo right now is her subconscious. Because her conscious is gone, the part of the subconscious in her N-field is the only part of Hinaichigo that is still left. Like I told you before, the subconscious controls the C-field. So the subconscious of Hinaichigo isn't really here. This is just a projection. And so is Corinne."

The Hinaichigo in front of them took that moment to look up. "Eh? Why are you here, nano?"

Kanaria beamed at her, expression glowing. "We're here to take you back, kashira!"

Hinaichigo seemed confused. She tilted her head, eyebrows furrowing. "Take... me... back?"

"Yeah! Kashira!"

Her countenance changed to one of thunderous fury. "Iiyaaaaaaaaaa! NOOOOOO! I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE, NANO!"

"Hi-hinaichigo, kashira?"

"DIDN'T I TELL YOU I WAS HAPPY HERE? DON'T YOU GET IT? I DON'T NEED TO FIGHT! I HAVE CORINNE!"

Not waiting for her friends to explain, the doll lashed out with her hand in a vicious manner. Strawberry vines sprouted out of the ground and headed towards the group at a breakneck speed.

"I thought you said she wasn't real!"

"That doesn't mean the subconscious can't control the strawberry vines. This is her territory.

"So be careful. She isn't real and her powers are weaker, however everybody will still have to watch it," Akaihana said, ducking a vine.

All the dolls listened to Akaihana's words and dodged everything rather nimbly, a skill developed from ages of the Alice Game.

But Jun... well... He was an NEET, someone who didn't go outside and did not participate in education. Which means he rarely moved around at all, which equals clumsiness.

A vine shot straight towards his head and although he tried to avoid it, it just looped around and struck him in the back of his head, sending him flying and face-planting on the floor. He stood up, hands covering his bleeding nose and rubbing the swelling little peak growing on his skull.

"OWWW! OI, AKAIHANA, WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY "SHE'S FREAKING WEAKER"?"

Akaihana diverted a vine with a flip of her ribbons, sliced the defeated tendril in half (was it growling?), turned, and rolled her eyes.

"First of all, I did not say "she's freaking weaker." I said "she's weaker." Secondly, I said "she's weaker." I never said she wasn't powerful."

"You!"

Jun wanted to say more but they were interrupted by another shriek from Hinaichigo.

"Why are you ducking, nano? You can't duck! I will not let you!" she screamed and raised her arms.

As her arms rose, a huge, thick, churning, wall of strawberry vines grew from the ground as her fingers reached for the sky.

"EHH?!" Cherriru shrilled, much like her owner had just done. "WHAT?! WHY IS HINAICHIGO A CHIBI?"

The Rozen Maidens looked at her oddly. "What? You didn't know that?" Souseiseki wondered.

"NO! THIS IS MY FIRST TIME SEEING AND REVIVING HER!"

"Ah! Hinaichigo has a huge mountain of luck as big as Mt. Elvis! Like Yukihani, deyo!"

Elvis sneezed again. We really should let the poor man R.I.P.

"Shut it will you?" Jun screeched.

"Mou, don't be so mean, deyo."

While they were hollering their heads off at each other, Hinaichigo was getting increasingly angry and increasingly more furious. So... She raised another wall of strawberry vines, aimed, and launched the two in separate directions at them. The whole pile began rolling towards them like a huge, cresting, lethal, wave.

"RUUUUNN! SUDEEE!" Tsukigin squealed, before disappearing in a flash of silver.

"What? That is so not fair, desu!"

"It is one of my sister's talents," Tsukikin said, lifting her long skirt from the ground as she started sprinting, high heeled stilettos and all.

Seeing the wave was coming closer, everybody either shrieked, ran, or both. Except for Suigintou and Yukihani, who had been flying since the battle had begun. They were safe and sound and too lazy to join in.

"Y-YU-YUKI-YUKIHANI-CH-CH-CHAN! D-DO SO-SOME-THING!" Gankorika burst into tears of panic as she covered her eyes and ran around like a headless chicken.

Everyone stopped temporarily. All eyes were directed towards Yukihani, who had been hovering in a nice, shadowed, corner, having her lunch.

Yukihani jumped and dropped all of the strawberries she had been plucking from the vines that had come her way. She quickly wiped away the red strawberry juice at the corners of her mouth and looked up sheepishly.

"Eto... Did you need something? Deyo?"

"DO SOMETHING!" They all screamed as they kept running.

No one dared to call out to Suigintou. They were scared that she would attack them with her feathers due to irritation.

"Oh, okay, deyo. Umm... Umm...

"HONEY FREEZE! Light."

A shallow sprinkle of golden frost rained down from the ceiling, settling on the strawberry vines and congealing into keen, sparkling, points.

So. Now the originally rather dangerous strawberry vines were coated with razor sharp crystals.

Great.

"WHAT? WHY DID YOU USE LIGHT, BAKA?!"

"Gomen, Cherri-chan, deyo."

"USE THE STRONGEST ONE YOU HAVE! NOW!"

"I need to recharge. Deyo."

"YOU JUST HAD LUNCH! WHY IN TH— Fine. Just... just... go."

Yukihani grinned, as though she were waiting for this sentence, before she zipped right into the middle of the strawberry walls.

"What is sh-she doing?" Souseiseki exclaimed.

"Calm down Souseiseki."

"Wha—"

The Rozen Maiden's mouths dropped as they witnessed only a blur of white, bouncing around from place to place, snatching strawberry and honey crystal after strawberry and honey crystal.

"HOW... HOW IS SHE DOING THAT, KASHIRA?"

"Yukihani is hyperactive to the tenth degree. Or the hundredth."

The sea of berries slowly changed from a red sea into a sea of red with a green spiral that started in the middle.

Suiseiseki sweatdropped. "She's not very... accurate... is she? Desu?"

Akaihana sighed. "No. Not at all."

When half of all the berries had been eaten, Yukihani staggered out of the strawberry vines, clutching her stomach as she fell to the ground, proclaiming, "I... I can't eat anymore, deyo!"

"You should have been full a few minutes ago! How did you eat that much?" Suigintou said, eyes wide. Her palms were facing up and her fingers were flexed.

"I... I don't like to waste... food..." she weakly replied.

Noticing that her walls of strawberries had been devoured, Hinaichigo raised her arms again. Now, three more huge walls began developing. Wonderful.

Kanaria shrieked in annoyance. "OKAY, THIS IS JUST GETTING RIDICULOUS, KASHIRA!"

She raised the bow of her violin and sliced down at the nearest bunch of strawberries before backing away from them and opening her parasol. "The smartest of all the Rozen Maidens will go into action—" Her speech of glory was cut off by a strawberry vine and Kanaria quickly ducked while squealing a, "Kya!"

"Now! Do something again! YUKIHANI!" Tsukikin yelled.

Yukihani, who had magically recovered, popped into action. "Honey freeze, deyo!" she chirped.

"STOP HER!" Akaihana screamed.

The gardener twins began sprinting desperately towards Yukihani, brandishing their weapons.

"THE MOST-ULTIMATE-MOST-POWERFUL-SPLENDURIFIC-FANTABULO US-SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALID OCIOUS HONEY FREEZE EVER! DEYOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"On second thought, just let her be." Akaihana said.

The two dolls skidded to a stop and flopped on the floor.

The walls of strawberries began to freeze, starting from the back. Slowly, ice crept over the delicate vines, forming a globe of frozen honey.

In the end, a magnificent, large, ice sphere stood in front of them, all the strawberry vines successfully trapped inside.

"W-wow..." Souseiseki gasped, her neck hurting as she looked up.

"I know right?" Yukihani beamed. "It's like a strawberry-honey popscicle!"

She pounced on the ball of ice, giving it a squeeze. The hug quickly turned into a... push. And with a loud scrape, the ice ball started to roll. At the dolls.

"Move, my strawberries! Move, nano!" the forgotten Hinaichigo cried, even though she had no control over the frozen strawberry vines at all.

Karma was nice to her and started tumbling towards the other dolls.

"LOOK WHAT YOU DID! BAKA USHAGI BUTA, DESU!

"MAKE IT ST-STOP! M-MA-MAKE IT STOP!" Gankorika sobbed.

In all the chaos, Akaihana almost didn't notice the globe of ice expanding. Almost.

"Yukihani, stop your stupid creation from getting any larger!"

"I can't. Deyo."

"Oh save me, Rozen." Akaihana prayed, looking like she was going to cry like Gankorika.

"Why is the popsicle bad, deyo? It's sweet and strawberry!"

"If it would stop trying to kill us, it wouldn't be!" Akaihana roared, losing her composure, eyes burning like the lava of volcanoes. It was hot and scorching.

Jun's mind sputtered to a stop. His thoughts consisted of only two words. _kill... us._

_Kill... Us._

_Kill._

_Us._

"WE'RE GONNA DIE! WE'RE GONNA FUDGING DIEEEEEE!"

.

..

...

Nori woke up in her sleep. She sat up in her bed, her blankets rustling.

Her heart was pounding with some unknown nervousness.

"Ju-Jun kun?" she mumbled, looking up at the stars, her eyes worried.

.

..

...

Akaihana winced at Jun's language again.

"Oh shut up, chibi human. Stop being a wimp, desu."

"I AM NOT A WIMP! I AM **NOT** A WIMP!"

"YES YOU ARE, DESU!"

"CAN WE FOCUS ON THE MATTER AT HAND? THIS ICE THING IS TRYING TO KILL US!" Suigintou had lost her temper too.

"WE'RE GONNA DIE! WE'RE GONNA F***ING DIEEEEEE!"

"Hina's ears, NANOOOOO!" Hinaichigo wailed.

And what was Corinne doing all this time? She was... smiling.

Tsukigin reappeared. Finally. "SHUT! UP! EVERYONE! SUDE!"

The place became eerily quiet.

'"First of all, Suiseiseki, use your trees to stop the ice ball, sude."

Suiseiseki did so, mentally smacking herself for not thinking for it earlier.

"Now, everyone, do you remember what we came here for or not, sude?" her voice echoed.

"Right, kashira! Hinaichigo, kashira..."

Hinaichigo pouted, pulling a Yukihani, as she stared at Kanaria. "I don't wanna fight with you again... So... I'll come with you, nano!"

Hachidori cheered. "Yay! But... You were the one fighting us!"

"Whatever. I'll go with you... but..." she began.

"Awwwww..." Hachidori sighed.

"Stop interrupting her, Hachidori! Kashira!"

"BUT! I'll only come with you if you can find me in a game of hide and seek! Nano!"

"Okay..." Souseiseki ventured.

"If Corinne finds me first, then you lose and I'll stay here forever. And you can't take me away, nano. If you win, then I'll go with you."

Akaihana sighed. "Fine."

Hinaichigo grinned, and faded away with the parting words of, "Hurry up! Nano!"

Jun paused. "How long have we spent fighting Hinaichigo?"

Akaihana looked grim. "Eighteen."

"Soo..." Cherriru began slowly, "We only have ten minutes left?"

"Less. Five actually. We need five to revive her.

"And Cherriru, you can't come with us."

* * *

Scarlet: Yo peoples.

Gellie: THE NEW ROZEN MAIDEN ANIME IS COMING UP PEOPLES.

AND I'M PRETTY SURE THAT IT IS NOT SEASON THREE! YAY!

Scarlet: *sigh* Gellie; you and your assumptions...

Gellie: BUT THE PEOPLE ON THE CHINESE WEBSITE TOLD ME SOOOOOOOOO—

Scarlet: ...

Gellie: AND THE MANGA SAID SO TOOOOOOOO!

Scarlet: Anyways, you may have noticed that this chapter is shorter; it's because Gellie insisted on cutting it off here.

Gellie: HEY! DON'T BLAME IT ALL ON ME!

Scarlet: But it's true.

Gellie: True...

IT HAS TO BE THE MANGA VERSION! HAS TO BE A REMAKEEE! AND ENGLISH SCANLATORS, SHAME ON YOU. THE CHINESE SCANS ARE ALREADY UP TO TALE 54! HAH! IF YOU DON'T UPDATE, I'M TAKING YOUR JOB! *evil cackle*

Scarlet: So. Hopefully we'll post the next chapter sooner than usual to make up for it.

That is...

Gellie: NEW ROZEN MAIDEN ANIME! NEW ROZEN MAIDEN ANIME! MANGA VERSION! MANGA VERSION! MANGA VERSION!

Scarlet: That is, if Gellie ever stops screaming.

And if you review, of course.


	12. Chapter 10: Fallacious

Chapter 10

«Fallacious»

* * *

Yukihani skipped cheerily down the pavement. "Follow the yellow brick road, deyo. Follow the yellow brick road, deyo! Follow, follow, follow, follow, FOLLOW the yellow brick roa-aad. Follow, follow, foll—"

"SHUT IT, BAKA USHAGI BUTA, DESU!"

"And wait up for us. We're taking a break."

"HAI, HACHIDORI! DEYO!"

"Pl-please *huff* remind me *puff* why Cherriru *wheeze* can't come with us *groan* again?" Jun panted. "I-I mean, Hinaichigo's *choke* C-Field is a c-city and i-it's confusing; won't we n-ne-need her to *cough cough* find that annoying doll?"

Akaihana stared at him as though he were the font of human stupidity. "I told you already. It's because Cherriru works with clay."

Apparently, he hadn't been playing attention the first time she said that, because the immediate thing that jumped to his mind was _Huh?_

As if she had read his mind, Akaihana shot him a deadpan look. He hurried to cover his lapse in awareness.

"S-so?"

"Orokana. Hinaichigo's body is currently in Kirakishou's possession. So even if we do revive her, there will be nowhere for her to go. Cherriru is currently making another body for her."

"Oh."

Tsukigin rolled her eyes. "Yeah, _"oh"_, sude."

Slightly recovered, Jun stopped gasping every five seconds. "But wouldn't it be helpful if Cherriru were here? She can sense Hinaichigo. And why are we staying in a big group? Shouldn't we split up?"

Akaihana dismissed him impatiently. "No need. Let's go."

Jun whimpered a very unmanly whimper before he slowly pushed himself off the pure white walls of Hinaichigo's city. That is, they would be pure white if Hinaichigo hadn't doodled all over them in multicolored crayon.

However, in the process of standing up with no back support, Jun's leg muscles failed him, and he fell on the paved, yellow brick, ground.

And in the process of lying on the ground doing nothing, Jun noticed something very strange. "The earth is... rumbling?"

And in the process of processing that information, Jun began screaming, "IT'S AN EARTHQUAKE! SUBCONSCIOUS-HINAICHIGO HAS SENT AN EARTHQUAKE TO DERAIL AND DEMOLISH AND DECIMATE US!"

"Di-ci-mete? Deyo? What's that?"

"Decimate. Verb. To terminate, obliterate, or annihilate. In other words, it means a) kill, b) **destroy**, and c) _**mass-murder**_."

"Thanks, Hachi-sensei!"

Kanaria sweatdropped very hard. Why did her Rosa Mystica sound so sadistic and robotic when saying that?

"MY NAME IS NOT EIGHT!"

"Hachidori. You know how Yukihani is. Orokana Jun. Shut up."

Jun grumbled some more before going quiet.

"We knew the earth was rumbling." Akaihana continued.

Souseiseki looked puzzled. "Excuse me?"

"Sorry, _we_," she gestured to the Rosa Mysticas, "knew.

"It's because in a C-Field, the primary job of the subconscious is to build. Therefore, wherever subconcious Hinaichigo is, she's building something. Whatever she's building right now is expanding the city from that focal point. Which means the whole expanding process is somewhat like her life-wave. She's in the middle of it."

"So... shouldn't we follow the ripples that are coming from the ground, desu?"

"Again, no need. Gankorika, tell them the solution."

All eyes turned towards Gankorika, who looked unbelievably nervous. "E-eto... well... First of all, Hi-Hinaichigo is very childish, r-ri-right? S-s-secondly, because Ki-Kira-Kirashou-sama is really just a s-sp-pirit, she went all o-over the pl-place in the N-F-Fie-Field territory. So, I-I've seen children pl-playing hide-and-se-seek. And whenever y-you scr-scream for them, th-they scream b-back. It's ea-easy to locate them like th-that."

Jun scratched his head. "So you mean I'm supposed to go like this: HINAICHIGO! ARE YOU DONE HIDING YET?"

The dolls present winced, but nodded.

And faintly, they could hear a reply. "YESSSS!"

"Okay..." Suigintou drawled, "So we just keeping yelling for her and she'll reply? Who here has extraordinary hearing?"

"That would be Cherriru. Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho."

"Nee-chan, why are you laughing, sude?"

"Oh-ho-ho-ho— No reason. I just felt like it."

"Wait. Cherriru?" Souseiseki asked. "As in the same Cherriru whom we have left behind? Then how are we supposed to locate Hinaichigo?"

"No worries, deyo! Yukihani has an idea!"

Saying this, a poof of rose petals exploded in mid air, and she drew a dagger out of it. The bunny's doll cutter had a rather extraordinary design. Bizarre and unsual it was, but it matched Yukihani's character. It certainly fitted perfectly with her.

"What are you doing with a carrot, desu?"

Yukihani's eyes flashed with surprise for a moment before getting watery and teary. She started waving the dagger around in the air, and the Rosa Mysticas around her wobbled precariously as they ducked the edge of her weapon.

"It issh not a cawot, deyo!"

"Then what is it? Desu! It looks exactly like a carrot!"

"Yeah, kashira! Can we eat it?"

"It issh a cawot dagger! Not a cawot!"

They couldn't blame the green doll's eyesight. It was easily seen why Suiseiseki had thought the item a carrot. As it's name so grandly proclaimed, the knife was shaped, and colored, like a certain orange plant. If you didn't look close enough the blade looked like the everyday vegetable we eat. Up close, the dagger, looked like a sharp, orange, jagged, crystal stuck on a bunny head handle. Unlike the droopy-eared rabbit she had under her collar, this bunny's fuzzy long ears were perked up, forming a grip to hold onto when fighting. The figurehead also proudly sported a polka-dotted bow tie, creating a weird resemblance to Laplace. The knife actually looked quite hilarious because in all honestly, its appearance was a bunny that had a carrot as it's body.

"I see... desu. It is a dagger."

"Yay! Suiseiseki agrees with me, deyo!"

After imparting this nugget of information, she proceeded to crouch on the floor, balance her dagger by the point on the ground, and spin it. It made less than one revolution before it toppled to the ground with a clattering sound, pointing towards the middle of the city. Yukihani picked up her blade, vanished it into another poof of rose petals, began skipping in the direction that the knife had pointed towards, and started beating her wings while still skipping. She ended up doing a mix of flying and cantering in mid-air. Twirling around erratically a few times as she flew in the direction the dagger had indicated, she then started screaming.

"HINA-CHAN! ARE YOU DONE YET, DEYO?"

"HAIIIIII~"

Yukihani began flying straight forward.

"Everyone, follow her!" Akaihana ordered.

"Follow the angel bunny doll, deyo. Follow the angel bunny doll, deyo. Follow, follow, follow, follow, FOLLOW the angel bunny doll. Follow, fo—"

"Yukihani, keep talking to Hinaichigo, kashira! We need to find her!"

"Okay, deyo. ARE YOU SURE?"

"HAIIIIII NANO~"

Jun stared determinately at the wobbling, white blob above him. He would not embarass himself again!

As soon as he thought this, he crashed straight into a building. A dafu store, to be exact.

"SH*******T!"

"Orokana Jun, stop fumbling around and catch up. Ah, and watch the language please."

The huge white building wobbled, before crashing into the floor and ripping itself open, revealing the reddish-brown bean paste and strawberry inside. Curious, Tsukigin slowly walked up to sign that said the name of the store and poked it. Something creamy and dark smeared on her finger as her skin brushed against the sepia material.

The doll carefully slid her finger into her mouth, expecting something acrid to burst on her tongue.

Instead, it was sweet.

_Chocolate?_ She thought.

"How can a huge mound of dafu be a dafu store, sude?"

"Hmmm..." Souseiseki murmured.

They looked around.

"What if the "store" in "Dafu Store", has the meaning of a reseve, a stock room, instead of a shop? Kashira?" Kanaria said, proud of her thought process.

"Hmmm..." Souseiseki murmured.

"Oi. Souseseiki, desu. Don't turn into a baka chibi ushagi number two, okay?"

"Where is that dead rabbit coney anyways?"

Akaihana gazed upwards. "She probably flew off to find Hinaichigo."

"How will we get to where she is then?"

"Calm down, Jun. We have the special set of skills required to get to her right here with us."

"Hmmm!"

"Souseiseki, desu? What are you doing?"

Suiseseiki looked around for Souseiseki, but she was nowhere to be found.

"Souseiseki? Desu?"

"Hmmm..."

Suiseiseki's eyes roamed the whole place before landing on the dafu "store". "Could it be... desu?"

She slowly lifted up the white outside of the dafu, trying not to spill the condiments inside.

And sure enough, there was Souseiseki, sprawled under the huge dafu, gasping for breath.

"Oh my gosh! Souseiseki, desu! I'm so sorry!"

Souseiseki just shook her head, indicating it was nothing to worry about, her chest heaving as she sucked in oxygen, a reflex action Rozen had ingrained into the dolls.

"Anyways, haven't you noticed something odd about this city?" Souseiseki noted when she finally caught her breath, as she adjusted her hat and started wiping chunks of rust-colored bean paste off her shirt.

Tsukigin glanced around, her eyebrows rising. "What?"

"It seems like... there's only five types of buildings here."

"What?"

Tsukikin walked up to the next store. "Hey! This place here actually has a door and windows. Let's go in! Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho!"

"We don't have the time," Akaihana said patiently. "We'll just look in through the display window."

Suigintou snorted. "Isn't Hinaichigo dying? Why are you wasting time to sight see?"

"W-well, Yu-Yukiha-hani-c-chan is looking f-f-for her..."

"You honestly trust that dead rabbit coney to do anything right?"

"Hinaichigo is playing a game," Hachidori said, tucking a few loose strands of her hair behind her ear. "That is right up Yukihani's alley. She has the best chance of finding your sister than any of us here."

"Yukihani will never let herself lose in any type of game. You should be grateful that we Rosa Mysticas are not in the Alice Game or else you would all be dead, most of you probably by her hand. Although it's not like we would ever fling ourselves into such a ridiculous thing like moths to a fire," Akaihana said.

Suigintou flinched at her words.

"Tch," Jun sounded. "I don't think that rabbit chicken could kill anybody."

Unseen by the Rozen Maidens and Jun, who were occupied by the inside of the building they were in front of, the Rosa Mysticas exchanged uncomfortable looks before they stepped up to observe with the others.

Inside was a row of five dolls, all sitting in different positions, and all in different states of completion. On a table that was situated in the middle of the room, a dismantled doll was scattered, and a pink mass of cloth sat close to the edge of work surface. Golden curls hung off the corner of the chair in from of the table, and two apple green glass eyes were nestled in the folds of the dress.

"That's Hinaichigo before she was completed," Akaihana said gently. "Except the material of the dress isn't cor—"

"We are wasting time, Akaihana-chan. Oh-ho-ho-ho!"

"Not neccesarily. Yukihani, remember? We might was well take the time she has given us and look around a little."

"To the next place, then, sude!" They all backed up a few steps.

Jun stared up at the sign that adorned the workshop they had just left, flabbergasted.

"'Father's shop...?' Is this really Father's workshop? Kashira?"

"Apparently so. At least in Hinaichigo's mind, anyways. Speaking of Hinaichigo... Gankorika, do you think Yukihani has found her yet?"

"Pro-pro-probably. Y-you kn-know how f-fast—"

A cry echoed through the whole of the city. "I FOUND HINAICHIGO, DEYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"And there's your answer, Hachidori, sude."

"W-we-well, we mi-might as well g-get to h-h-h-her now."

"..." Suigintou was speechless.

In the end, it was Kanaria who spoke up. "How are we supposed to get to her, kashira?"

Gankorika smiled and her turquoise eyes glowed with a ghostly light.

"Whoa, kashira! What's wrong with her eyes, she looks so cree—"

Suddenly, a huge hole popped into existence under the group's feet and they all began falling.

"WHAT'S HAPPENING DESUUUUU?"

"WE'RE GONNA DIE! WE'RE GONNA FUDGING DIEEEEEE!"

"Stop it, Orokana Jun."

"WHY ARE YOU ROSA MYSTICAS SO PLACID, KASHIRA? WE'RE FALLING DOWN A RABBIT HOLE!"

"No, no, no, sude," Tsukigin said, shaking her head calmly as the group kept falling. "If Laplace interfered, I would be annoyed. So would all the other of my sisters. We told him specifically to not mess with us when we were rescuing the Rozen Maidens. And if he doesn't want us all coming after him, sude, he won't."

"Look around you," Akaihana pointed out.

Suigintou looked down. Water was flowing around them, carrying all the dolls and the one human to wherever the tide was going. Bubbles floated in the waters beside them, the gentle force of rushing water creating a breeze and blowing locks of hair up, but the Rosa Mysticas paid them no notice.

"Why aren't we getting wet? And where are we going?" Souseiseki asked.

"This is Gankorika's method of traveling. And the water is more imagination than real. This river is one that is a branch off the Sea of Subconsciousness."

Kanaria looked around in amazement, allowing herself to sink to the sandy bottom to touch the silky sand. "How... How can she access such thing, kashira? This is just... breathtaking."

Gankorika smiled softly as she brushed her fingers across the surface of the slightly murky blue tinted water. Ripples ruffled past the dolls. "I can cross... any barrier," she said without stuttering, eyes soft. "Within reason, that is. My talent accesses the subconscious of people, so it has to be someone I've "touched", or met. Right now, I've attached the end of this river to Yukihani. So we're traveling towards her."

Gankorika smiled, relaxed. She kicked her legs and began swimming gracefully towards the head of the group.

"We are almost there," she said, as the river slowed. She peered into bubble after bubble before cupping one in her hands. "This is Yukihani's."

And with that, she popped it.

The bubble floated apart into iridescent fragments for a few seconds before it collected itself back into a bubble and started expanding. The growing globule enveloped the small party, and they began shooting upwards and out of a hole, as the shimmering scene displayed inside the bubble quickly became their reality.

"HERE YOU ARE, DEYO! I FOUND HINA-CHANNNNNN!"

"SAVE ME, NAAAANOOOO!"

Yukihani was waving at them, smiling a smile so brilliant that it almost blinded them... while positioning a writhing, shrieking Hinaichigo in deadly, tight, headlock.

"Hina-chan doesn't want to die yettt! NANO! WAAAAAAAHHHH!"

"What's wrong, Hina-chan, deyo? There's still four minutes left till you will die."

"It's going to kill me, nano! It is! It willlllll!" Hinaichigo's face was reddening as she wailed and clawed at the bunny doll's grip.

"What is "it" deyo?" Yukihani asked, looking around innocently.

""It" is yooooooouu!"

Now she looked affronted. "I'm not an ittttt, deyooooo."

"Shut up you two, sude! And let go of the poor little thing."

Yukihani pouted. "Fine." She released Hinaichigo's thrashing body and dusted her hands off on her dress before she smoothed down her hair.

Hinaichigo ran to clutch at Kanaria. "Kannagi, nano! Help me!"

Kanaria raised her eyebrows at Yukihani. "What did you do to her?"

Yukihani looked contemplative. "Well, I was looking for Hina-chan, and then I finally found where the yelling was coming from, deyo. But it was inside a dafu store and the dafu store had no door, so I looked around in Corinne's house and Jun-Jun's house. She wasn't there, so I went back to try to find a door on the dafu store, deyo. Then I heard sounds like _"Omgh, awungh, omng, omng"_ from inside the dafu store, so I used my knife to cut apart the building. And guess what? Deyo? Inside was a bunch of redbean paste and strawberries and Hina-chan was in the middle!

"Yukihani pwounced on her and then started pulling on her wibbon! Yukihani thought she was stuck and dying inside the paste. But she wasn't, she was actually eating, and it made her hate me, deyo! Then she refused to come with me. And I realized that Gan-chan must be looking for me, deyo, and Hina-chan was running away, looking for Corinne, so I decided to capture Hina-chan for a while before you came, deyo."

All this was said with a sunny smile. She concluded the speech with a decisive, "DEYO!"

Everybody looked at Yukihani in silence.

"You could have treated her more nicely. She is a noble Rozen Maiden, after all. Besides, do you remember how long it took to sew Hinaichigo's dress? I'm not even calculating in how to it took to weave the cloth for her dress and to knit the lace. Do you remember how high class the material of the sewing string was, how fancy the lace was, how complicated the fabric was, how realistic the hair was, how delicate the glass eyes were, how uneasily obtained the pigments were, how drawn out the sculping of the face was, and how dangerous the creating of the ROSA MYSTICA WAS? DID YOU EVE—"

Suiseiseki just managed to cover Akaihana's mouth up with Sui Dream, otherwise she might have ranted their precious time away.

"Um-um-um... I-I-I think Che-Cher-Cherriru will be here s-ss-sooon," Gankorika said, stuttering again.

"Really, desu?"

The doll rose on her tiptoes to scan the sky. Her eyes narrowed as she spotted a distant shadow in the distance, perched on a stick. Suiseiseki's eyes squinted even further as she focused on the figure. "Is that a... witch, desu?"

Hinaichigo panicked. "WHAT? NANO? I HAVE NO WITCHES HERE! NONONONO! WITCHES ARE SCARY, NANO! MAKE HER GO AWAYYYYYYY!"

Suigintou smirked. "Unlikely. First of all, she seems to be flying closer. Secondly, I doubt she's a witch at all. Witch's are supposed to be green-skinned, I assume. She, however, seems to be pale skinned."

Yukihani pouted.

"You're all bakas, deyo! Can't you tell it's Cherri-cherriru?"

Hachidori sent her a questioning look. "Cherri-cherriru?"

At this moment, Hinaichigo looked up them at gawked, seemingly only noticing the strange, new, dolls now.

"Who are you guys, nano? Are you here to kill me?" she asked, her sweet voice quivering as she looked at the Rosa Mysticas with fear glinting in her eyes.

Tsukigin began babbling. "Well— We are the— No, umm— I don't know how to say this— SUDE!"

Tsukikin began laughing nervously. "Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho! I agree with my sister!"

Akaihana rolled her eyes and sighed. "Hinaichigo, we are the Ro—

Yukihani butted in all of a sudden. "HINA-CHAN! WE ARE NOT HERE TO KILL YOU AT ALL! YUKIHANI WANTS TO BE YOUR FRIEND!"

Hinaichigo gaped at her. "But you were strangling me just seconds ago, nano!"

Gankorika patted Yukihani's shoulder soothingly. "Yu-Yuki-Yukihani-ch-chan, I th-think you sh-should c-c-calm down."

Yukihani began wailing. "NEEEEEEEEVVVVVVVEEEEERRRRRRR , DEYOOOOOO!"

In all this commotion, nobody noticed Cherriru approaching rapidly.

"WE— NO! I, AM HERE TO REVIVE YOOOUUU!" she shrieked.

Cherriru jumped down from the air, one arm cradling a mass of clay, the other slamming the bottom of her staff onto the ground.

"What do you mean by—"

"MASTER CHIBI! YOU ARE GOING TO DIE IN TWO MINUTES IF I DO NOT REVIVE YOU!" she screamed as she grabbed hold of Hinaichigo's shoulders.

Hinaichigo froze, green eyes widening. She glanced down and let out a yelp. Hinaichigo was starting to become transparent.

"NOOOOOO! NANOOOOOOOOO! I DON'T WANT TO DIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Akaihana stepped up.

"Cherriru," she directed a glance towards said doll, "you still have Hinaichigo's spirit, correct?"

"Spirit?" Souseiseki tilted her head.

"Well, yes. Obviously, the Rozen Maidens need something in them to make them live too. So, Cherriru, spirit?"

"On it!"

Cherriru gently lay down the generic doll body onto the ground, before shining with a blinding light. Rings of pastel, spring green, and a more darkly shaded teal pulsed and then contracted around her.

She had turned back into the form of a Rosa Mystica.

The Rozen Maidens watched fascinated as one of the outermost rings, one that was colored a blushing pink, seemed to detach from the Rosa Mystica slightly. It became a tendril of smoke and floated lazily in the air before it wrapped itself around the crystal heart of the Rosa Mystica.

"Hinaichigo's spirit," Akaihana told them.

"Now Master chibi, please reach out to me." Cherriru calmly said to Hinaichigo.

Hinaichigo blinked and raised her arm hesitantly. Although she seemed childish and immature, and was, she didn't trust as easily as others thought she did. But she wanted to live, even though she did not want to fight anymore.

And now, the only way she could live and fufill her dreams was to reach out to that floating crystal above.

The moment her fingers managed to brush against one of the rings, the light flashed even brighter. Hinaichigo gasped, and backed away. The Rosa Mystica's rings were spinning, rotating around the crystal, like electrons to a nucleus. The rolling rings flipped over each other, the speed getting faster and faster, creating a rather miniature whirlwind. It was amazing how the loops never collided with each other. As they watched, the pink, smoky strand began to intertwine itself with the other rings.

Hinaichigo tried touching her Rosa Mystica, Cherriru, she corrected herself, again, this time withstanding the flash of brilliance. Then, the Rosa Mystica arched back before suddenly rushing forward and sinking into the already transparent Hinaichigo.

"What? Nano?" she managed to say as a disorienting feeling overcame her.

_"You're just reconnecting with your consciousness. Nothing big,"_ the echoing voice of Cherriru said to her, the sound rippling inside her body.

Jun stared in disbelief. ""Nothing big"? That sounds really arduous and painful!"

"It's not, Orokana Jun," Akaihana deadpanned.

"Hey! Chibi-ichigo, desu! What's happening?"

The subconscious Hinaichigo slowly rose to the air. Her image flashed, like static, before disappearing, leaving nothing but the Rosa Mystica in sight.

Darkness began to creep over Hinaichigo's vision, and the last thing she saw and felt was someone picking her up and starting to insert her into the new body.

* * *

Scarlet: Okay, say hello to the awesome... ME! Yeah, yeah I know. Thank you for all the appreciation and applause.

Gellie: CLONE CLONE CLONE CLONE.

Scarlet: Shut the—

Gellie: NO SWEARING!

Scarlet: Geez, geez. Fine...

Gellie: Anyways, people! HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR! Even though I doubt that any of you guys celebrate it... It's the Year of the Snake by the way.

Scarlet: Give me my money.

Gellie: EHHHH?

Scarlet: My parents didn't give me a 红包 (red packet), so the responsibility falls to you.

Gellie: WHAT? NO!

Scarlet: MONEY.

Gellie: *gives a cent*

Scarlet: *takes* MONEY.

Gellie: No more. Now, what's up with you guys nowadays?

Scarlet: Yeah, seriously. We've only got like... 4 reviewers. Thank you Patcholi, Sayaka, LuvAnimeRM, and James Birdsong... Although your reviews are so short they shouldn't even count...

Gellie: That's _very_ nice of you.

Scarlet: Always.

Gellie: Guys, we really want a new reviewer. Please?

Scarlet: Yeah, yeah, thanks, seriously.

Gellie: HAHAHAHA! CLONEEEEEEEEE—

Scarlet: Shut up.


	13. Chapter 11: Exacerbate

Chapter 11

«Exacerbate»

* * *

**Emergency A/N by Scarle****t: I added a really important word (yes, just one, but it makes a world of difference in the end) and I just wanted to notify our... three? Four? Readers of that fact. :) And yes, you do want to pay attention to said very important word. Please.**

* * *

Two crimson eyes stared at the blurry white and purple figures in the distance. She absently noted that the shadows around her were dissipating at a fast rate. Moving after Kirakishou and Barasuishou, her mouth twisted in thought.

Rozen had told her to keep an eye on the Rosa Mysticas, but when she had caught wind of who was hunting them, she couldn't pass up the opportunity.  
It didn't matter though. The two groups would eventually meet, and fight. And then she could fulfill her promise to Rozen.

For now...

The darkness shifted as she started to run silently after the pair.

* * *

"I don't wanna walk anymore, nanooooooo!"

Akaihana shot a quick look at Hinaichigo, who was dragging her feet and complaining incessantly.

"Hinai—" she started.

There was a soft rustle and Akaihana glanced swiftly down at her feet. Webs of white rose vines crept over the ground, an individual tendril heading towards each doll.

"You won't need to,_ pink rose sister_," a new voice interrupted.

Gankorika's head whipped up, her eyes widening.

Before they could react, a rain of crystals began to fall down on them. Hinaichigo screamed, and wrapped her arms tightly around Akaihana's waist, causing the taller doll to tumble down to the ground, defenseless.

"SH***********T!" Jun hollered again, giving somewhat of a warning.

A crystal was aiming straight towards the two dolls on the ground. Thinking fast, Akaihana quickly grasped on tightly to the sobbing doll on top of her and rolled out of the way. The purple crystal missed them by only centimeters.

"HACHIDORI!" Akaihana yelled over the screams when she saw another shower of crystals pop into existence.

Above all the chaos, the high, clear, tones of a flute sounded out, and the deadly rain pounded onto a shimmering, translucent barrier before sliding off of it and clattering onto the ground, useless. The blue floral patterns on the barrier seemed to convulse and twist before they combined, forming the word, "防".

"Defend," Yukihani breathed lightly. "Thanks, Hachi-sensei!"

The two new arrivals turned to look at Hachidori, who was gently blowing into a shining white, polished porcelain, flute.

"Kira-kira-kirakishou-saaamaaaa!" Gankorika blurted, as tears flowed down her cheeks. "Please d-don't hurt them!"

The doll gave her a haughty look. "Ah, look what we have here, Barasuishou. My weakling of a Rosa Mystica. The traitor." She smirked.

Barasuishou floated down from above, palms still shooting out crystals, golden eyes sliding to the Gankorika. The imitation sky of the Sea of Subconsciousness had turned gray. Lightning was beginning to flash, and the clouds were gathering together into the shape of a whirlpool. It was the foretaste of a tornado.

"Watch your language, young one," Akaihana said, passing the crying Hinaichigo to the protective arms of Souseiseki.

"And you," Kirakishou said, pointing at Akaihana, "You're Shinku's Rosa Mystica, are you not?"

The doll addressed tossed her head. "Yes, I am."

Kirakishou surveyed the rest of the group with an assessing eye. "So... all the Rosa Mysticas have been let out, no?"

"How did you know, desu?" Suiseiseki asked, eyes blazing with hatred.

"Know what? About the Rosa Mysticas?" Kirakishou said mockingly, lips curled in a sneer. "Well, this traitor here told us everything. You should be careful of her; words spill out of her mouth like a waterfall."

"NOT TRUE!" Gankorika snapped, abandoning her usual meek demeanor.

Yukihani turned to her. "What happened, Kori-chan?"

"I-I-I revived h-her after sh-sh-she lost, but th-that was after R-r-r-rozen said the re-real Alice Game would be be-be-begin-beginning, and that we should ex-x-expose ours-s-selves. So I j-j-just didn't erase her mem-mem-memories after I re-re-revived her this time."

"Makes sense, sude," Tsukigin said. "After all, it **was** after the command."

"The real Alice Game? What is this I hear?" Kirakishou said, giggling with excitement. "Say... Say... When is it going to start?"

"None of your business, sude," Tsukigin replied.

Barasuishou looked at Tsukigin. "Seeing as we have no Rosa Mysticas in our company, which gives us an unfair disadvantage, you should tell us."

"No," Tsukikin said, backing up her sister.

"Too bad," Kirakirashou chuckled. "I guess we'll just have to... force it out of you."

She smiled viciously. "The real Alice Game should start now!"

The shield above the Rosa Mysticas shone with a brighter intensity and more Chinese words floated up to the surface.

【防，强化，铜墙铁壁】

"Defend," Akaihana translated. "Defend, strengthen, and "walls of steel and brass.""

Hachidori stopped playing her flute for a moment to send a challenging look towards Kirakishou and Barasuishou. "I dare you to try."

Rosa vines sprouted out of the ground that surrounded Kirakishou and barreled towards the protected group with lightning speed.

Hachidori raised her flute to her lips, and blew a string of sharp, fast-paced, notes. Kirakishou's vines bounced off the glowing shield just like Barasuishou's crystals had. Seeing a moment of weakness, Suigintou shot out a volley of feathers.

But it seemed like the shield worked both ways. Her feathers were deflected and they littered the Sea's still waters, broken.

She huffed, whipping around to glare at Hachidori, but Akaihana sent her a look that said, "_Unless you want to be sent out there alone just to be able to attack both of them and then lose valiantly, stop complaining_."

"You two. Why are you here again?" Suigintou said to both of the dolls. "I know that even you, little sister, have a Rosa Mystica to help revive you; in fact, she is with us right now. But she doesn't. So why is SHE here?"

Barasuishou's golden eyes flared with what seemed to be cold anger. "Those who are destined to win will always rise again, no matter how many times they are knocked to the ground. Unlike _junk_. It will never be worthy of the winner's attention."

"SWUIGINTOU-SAMWA IS NOT JUNK, DEYO! HOW DARE YOU! YOU UGWY PURPLE DUDE! SHE IS MY SWUIGINTOU-SAMWA! YOU ARE THE ONE THAT ISSH FROM ENJU'S TRASHCAN, DEYOOO!" Yukihani shrieked, waving her carrot dagger in the air and bouncing up and down, anime veins popping.

Barasuishou's irises shrunk. "Did you... Did you just insult my father? DID YOU JUST IMPLY THAT THE ONLY THING FATHER CAN MAKE IS TRASH? DID YOU?"

Barasuishou let out a scream of rage. Purple sleeves shot up into the sky as Barasuishou started to form two unbelievably large crystals approximately the size of two buses and then hurled them towards the group of dolls. Hachidori, seeing the threat, closed her eyes to focus on the music and on the music only.

Kirakishou took advantage of Hachidori's distraction with the shield and with a burst of power, conjured rose vines inside of the protective barrier, aiming them towards the preoccupied doll. They didn't get far before a small bubble of protection surrounded them too, and then Yukihani diced them into pieces, smiling as she went. She gathered up the fallen roses and started decorating the bunny on her dagger, crafting a crown of flowers and sticking a rose with a particularly long stem behind the bow tie.

"Get rid of the shield now, Hachidori! We need to be able to attack! Souseseki, get your sisters and Hinaichigo as far away as possible! Make sure nothing touches Hinaichigo, she doesn't have the energy needed to fight! Others, get ready! And Yukihani, stop fooling around! Use your powers for something useful!" Akaihana shouted, flicking out her ribbons with a swish of her wrists.

"SCATTER!" Tsukigin screamed as one of the falling crystal's shadow began growing larger and larger over her.

She grabbed Yukihani, Gankorika, and her sister, flashing into a blur of silver and dragging them all with her. They landed outside the crystal's perimeter.

But even though the crystal was and seemed to be embedded into the ground vertically, it began leaning forward. They were in its path; again. And Souseiseki and Suiseiseki, who were trying their best to drag Hinaichigo to somewhere safe, were unfortunately the closest to the crystal as its shadow began stretching longer and the stone started falling.

Tsukigin panicked. "I can't transport too many people away consecutively, sude! It drains my energy! We'll have to try to push it back! Suiseiseki, sude! I'll transport Hinaichigo away, but you have to help me protect the others! Ugh! If we only had summoned Cherriru out; it would make things so much more easier!"

Suiseiseki looked upwards just in time to see a streak of silver encompass Hinaichigo. Hinaichigo disappeared, and Tsukigin stood in her place seconds later. "Ready, sude?"

"Sui Dream! DESU!"

"Sui Night— KYA! WATCH OUT!"

Barasuishou had good timing, having lobbed her second crystal right at the moment when they were the most desperate.

Tsukigin gasped as the second crystal began falling, but forced herself to focus on the objective at hand, raise her hose and aim. Twin streams of water flew towards the toppling crystal, one spraying the ground and caused trees to lift it up, the other blasting the crystal back with blunt force.

The falling crystal was tackled by Kanaria and Hachidori, who had mysteriously gained an 二胡 (Er Hu)*. Hachidori was sawing at her violin-like instrument furiously, playing "Marsielle(马赛)", and making a discordant tune between her and Kanaria, who was playing "Requiem For Which Was Lost", summoning a tornado.

With each drag of the bow across the strings of the 二胡, an arced half moon, like the blade of a scythe, glided out into the air, and they began to orbit Kanaria's gathering wind.

The combined attacks blew towards the second crystal, blasting it into hundreds of razor-sharp, shards.

"Yukihani! Akaihana! Gankorika!" Hachidori called. "Shrapnel!"

"On it, DEYO!"

"Hai."

"O-o-okay, H-h-hachi-hachidori."

Akaihana pulled out her ribbons, slapping away the falling pieces. Yukihani just careened into the sky and darted around, displaying the speed she had first shown during the battle with Hinaichigo, plucking the sharp shards out of the air, or freezing large groups of crystal and sending the ball of ice far, far away. Gankorika... well...

Gankorika's face was beet red, and she was sitting cross-legged on the ground, her long beige-colored hair loose from her buns. Some of the Rozen Maidens stared in disbelief as her hair lengthened and separated, each cluster of strands heading for the falling shrapnel and coiling around it before the sharp objects could become too big of a problem.

"That looks... creeepy!" Jun cried, who was holding Hinaichigo.

"Just like her eyes did, kashira!" Kanaria agreed.

Kirakishou's eyes flared. "You..."

An undulating wave of rose vines sprouted from the ground, standing stock still for a moment as everyone in the clearing froze.

"You... have ALL fallen into my trap! IDIOTS!" Kirakishou said, cackling.

Akaihana's head shot up, alarmed, and looked at her surroundings. The two crystals had all herded them into a corner, and now they were stuck there, because the roses had formed a unbreakable fence around them.

And the vines were coming closer, ready to swallow them.

"HINAICHIGO DOESN'T WANT TO DIEEEEEE, NANOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"And you won't. Yes?" The slightly morose and husky voice left behind a suddenly silent atmosphere.

Kirakishou and Barasuishou tensed as the former temporarily stilled the wave. Thunder sliced down, splitting the sky, as all heads slowly turned to the source of the voice.

**BANG!**

A large blast of dark smoke filled the air, concealing whoever the owner of the voice was from their seeking eyes. All that could been seen was a warm glow darting around in the middle of the smog.

Kirakishou flexed her arm, creating a thorny whip out of a rose vine, her eye glaring into the smoke.

"Show yourself," the doll challenged.

There was a pause. It was short but more than enough to build tension.

"_Why should I? Why don't you come here instead?_" the voice replied, as though Kirakishou's demand was something that she could not fulfill.

"Why should I? Why don't you come here instead?" Kirakishou repeated, giggling.

Silence again.

"_You are a rather... arrogant doll, are you not?_"

"You are a rather arrogant doll, are you not?" Kirakishou echoed again, beaming.

"_What a pity; this repeat-after-me game isn't as amusing as it seemed at first_."

"What a pity," Barasuishou said almost tauntingly.

"_I agree too, daughter of Enju. Let's do something more exciting then, yes?_"

Kirakishou smirked. "How's this for exciting then?" she asked, and restarted the wave of rose vines with a jolt.

The Rozen Maidens, who had all but forgotten about Kirakishou's attack in light of this new doll, started as their lives were threatened again. Fire came sizzling through the smoke hazed air. It ran smack dab into the middle of the large wave and burnt the vegetation to crisp.

"_Oh_," the person said mockingly, "_I'm sorry. My power tends to be... hard to control, yes?_"

Purple crystals streaked towards the hidden doll, seeking by sound alone. A small gasp could be heard as the doll backed away from the attack. Barasuishou raised her head high, her arm pointing towards the sky. "Sorry, my power tends to be hard to control too," she said, golden eye blazing.

More balls of fire rained down on the heads of Kirakishou and Barashuishou, the former more so than the latter, avoiding the previously trapped dolls completely.

"_I agree with you. Since it is so hard to control here, I guess I will come down then,_" the person said, laughing happily.

There was a flash of scarlet, gold, and orange sparks, and the figure's feet landed on the ground.

"Who are you?" Kirakishou demanded, but she was cut off by a...

"GO! GO! LITTLE CARROTS!"

"YUUUUKIIIHANNNNIIIIIII!" the other Rosa Mysticas shrieked.

The carrots were engulfed by a blaze of fire for a few seconds before they returned nicely grilled to Yukihani who squealed with joy and began eating. "THANKS, PERSON-WHOSE-NAME-I-DO-NOT-K—" Her voice stopped abruptly as she viewed the new arrival's visage.

Akaihana stared into stone-hard eyes of crimson, bewildered. "Are you...?" the leader of the Rosa Mysticas asked prudently, unsure.

"I'm offended, Akaihana. Am I really that forgettable? I thought we were friends, yes?"

"I'd rather not make enemies with another unknown doll by mistaking them for someone else. Rozen knows that I already have enough enemies," Akaihana coolly replied. "So what are you called now?"

"Kaenshado."

"That's a pretty name," Akaihana answered, voice as cold as ice, a complete contrast to what she was saying.

"Thank you. And what's with the tense demeanor; do you not trust me now?"

Akaihana let out a small snort, and chuckled. "I don't know which part I'm dealing with at the moment, and...I don't know you anymore," Akaihana said, her voice firm at first but then gaining a slight amount of despair at the end.

The doll tossed her uneven dark hair, tucking the strand in front of her face behind her right ear, and grinned.

Barasuishou's visible eye narrowed. Why was her hair in such a state? She was sure there was no doll maker out there who would be so interested in abstract art.

The Enju maiden noted that the style of the clothing was strange. A piece of coral fabric, the color of the clouds when the sun sets, was shaped like a sideways hourglass and ran across the middle section of her top. The rest of her upper clothing was made out of different sections of a smoky sheer material. Black zigzagging lines framed the fabric into black boxes and ran in different directions for each portion of cloth. Her slightly frilly skirt was slanted, showing the left side of her waist, and was tied by a dark brown length of lace that ended as a ribbon knot at the right side of her waist, binding the flouncy textile to the skirt. Small, less exaggerated ruffles were displayed on the both sides of the ribbon. The most alluring part in the design was the meter long, crackling flame that was somehow connected to the end of ribbon. Barasuishou wondered how the fire had never managed to scorch the doll into ash.

Kaenshado brushed away the strand of hair that had fallen back into her face again, this time to the left side, tucking it underneath a paper white rose.

"You know, I'm here to help you my _friend_. If you are to revive so many Maidens in such a small amount of time, you will need an extra pair of hands." Her eyes darted to Kirakishou and Barasuishou. "Besides, it seems like your lives would have been lost a few minutes ago if I hadn't kindly popped out of nowhere just to save you," she said, sweeping her arms in a dramatic gesture.

"Really? But... it looks like you may be no help after all." Kirakishou said, slashing out her arm in a quick movement.

Kaenshado just sniffed and reciprocated in kind, a long tongue of flame flickering into life and burning the rose vines to the ground. "You were saying?"  
Barasuishou's and Kirakishou's eyes narrowed in synchronization and attacked Kaenshado at once, who began dodging for her life.

"Hello there, Rozen Maidens and Rosa Mysticas. Since I saved you, can you please give me a hand? I'm not the perfect, powerful, Alice, you know." Kaenshado said, ducking a web-like vine and redirecting away crystals with her fireballs.

Souseiseki jumped into action, snipping large amounts of vines away with her shears. Yukihani once again began dicing and slicing with her carrot dagger as she froze small amounts of vines using her "Honey Freeze". Akaihana continued lashing out with her ribbons and they sliced through the vines easily enough, although they couldn't pass through the crystals.

Suiseiseki was battering the crystals away with Sui Dream, because combining her tree vines with the rose vines would just worsen everything. Tsukigin was at the side of Tsukikin, blasting away all the crystals with her hose.

Tsukikin, however, was launching massive amounts of make up products at the flying crystals. When she seemed to run out of make up to pull out of nowhere, she moved her hand to the side of her stomach, arms positioned as though she was going to draw out a sword... and instead took out a tube of lipstick. She tore the lid off, imitating the way a samurai did when he removed his sword from it's case. She then pressed something at the bottom and raised it a fair distance away from her face. Up shot a bright, flamingo pink, scorching hot, laser.

All the characters in Star Wars sneezed for no reason. They glared at each other and started blaming a different planets for spreading illnesses. It was in a matter of seconds before they burst into war.

She paused to rummage around in her magically reappeared luggage case and her sister assailed all the powered up attacks that came at them. Tsukikin pulled out a handful of powder puffs and started throwing them towards the pair of hostile dolls, where they landed and promptly exploded in their faces with a blast of thick, choking, dust.

Kirakishou swung away, coughing. Barasuishou was blinking heavily and her face was caked with white.

Brushing the powder out of her long hair, Kirakishou stared long and hard at the Rosa Mystica. Haughtily, she told them, "You have won by sheer numbers this time, but when we catch you alone..."

She let her sentence trail off in a threatening manner, caught onto Barasuishou's arm, and disappeared.

"Why–" Barasuishou began to object, but she was cut off as Kirakishou pulled her upwards towards the hole in the middle of the whirlpool in the sky.  
"Well..." Hachidori started, "That was eventful."

Jun snorted. He was completely safe, having kept far away from the battle at all times with Hinaichigo perched on his head. "Understatement of the century."  
The new doll, Kaenshado looked at them all uncertainly. "I think that..."

Yukihani interrupted her. "Kai-chan should come with us! Yup yup yup, deyo!"

"Fine," Akaihana acquiesced.

"I can't leave anyways; I was ordered here by Rozen to work with you guys."

"FATHER? DID YOU JUST SAY FATHER?"

"Whoops. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned him."

"No, you shouldn't have. Rozen Maidens! Just give it up!" Hachidori shouted.

"NEVER, DESU!" Suiseiseki shrieked, brandishing her watering can threateningly.

"That's Yukihani's line, deyo!"

"Shut up. Idiots," Suigintou muttered, sending her feathers to spin around them as to get their full attention before she directed a question to the new doll.

"Who are you, Kaenshado, if I am not mistaken. Are you a Rosa Mystica?" Suigintou asked warily.

Yes... I am a Rosa Mystica, just that..." her voice trailed off.

"What?" Suigintou urged.

"First you have to know this: there are actually eight dolls, and there was a doll of Rozen's who was lost. Alright?"

Akaihana bit her lip and looked nervously at the Kaenshado, who just aloofly kept talking, "I am the Rosa Mystica of the lost doll, and am now searching for her. Rozen, however, saw fit to send me here, so here I am, yes?"

"Liar, there are only seven maidens!" Suigintou shouted, her breathing starting to become uneven.

"Rozen thought that there would only be seven too, but he makes mistakes sometimes. He's human after all, right?" Kaenshado said, shrugging flippantly.

Souseiseki looked horror-struck. "From your tone... Have you met Father before?"

She looked blankly at Souseiseki. "Yes, in fact. I was living with him for all these years. And didn't I just say that Rozen sent me here? How would that be possible if I never met him?"

Jealousy flickered in some of the Rozen Maiden's eyes.

"Whoa, look at those eyes. Especially the red ones. Please don't glare at me like that, yes? I'm just a servant to your Father."

"That's why Yukihani is counted as the ninth Rozen Maiden, deyo. What, did you think I was the eighth? That wouldn't make sense, because then Akaihana would be the twelfth Rozen Maiden instead of the thirteenth, and Tsukigin would be the tenth instead of the eleventh. If you had bothered to count up, you would have realized the missing gap for the eighth doll, deyo."

Suigintou turned to her Rosa Mystica, her expression hostile, looking ready to seek out and murder her youngest sister. "Where is the eighth doll then?" she snarled.

"Don't you dare lay a finger on my master. Do you really think that I would offer her location up to you just to have you slaughter her the next moment?" Kaenshado said, a flame forming in the space above her palm, the air above the fire rippling with an intense heat.

Suigintou gritted her teeth and scowled sharply back at the doll. Ebony feathers began to swirl in the air around her as the pressure around them grew in intensity.

Souseiseki sidled in between them, and raised her shears towards her eldest sister, having learned early on that her weapon did nothing to the Rosa Mysticas. "This isn't place to fight, Suigintou."

Suigintou's head snapped towards the gardener, her pale face lighting up with a rancorous look as she scowled. "THERE IS AN EIGHTH DOLL, YOU IDIOT! DON'T YOU GET IT? DON'T YOU GET THE FACT THAT THERE IS A THREAT?" she screamed, so loud that her voice cracked.

Souseiseki lowered her shears, bewildered by Suigintou's outburst. Before the silence could completely settle, the doll finally managed to continue to speak, multicolored eyes wide. "Suigintou," she said, trying her best to sound serene, "Shinku would not rage like you if she were in this situation."

A feather shot towards Souseiseki, shaving off a few strands of short auburn hair as it slashed past her right ear.

"Did you just say that ugly Shinku is better than me?" Suigintou said warningly, her voice dripping with venom.

Souseiseki sucked in a breath and closed her eyes. A tinge of anxiety seeping into her own voice, she continued, "No, I didn't. I'm just saying that if you fly away to find and contest this eighth doll, nothing good will come of it."

Suigintou gazed at Souseiseki for a very long time. She let out a sigh and her face finally cleared before reforming into a small sneer. "Fine. Whatever. But I'm not helping you if this sister attacks us. You're on your own."

And with that, she turned around and swept away, beating her wings in a steady pattern.

Kaenshado giggled heartily.

"That went well!" she said brightly.

Jun goggled at her, eyebrows twitching and twitching.

"Are you... Are you sane?" he asked tentatively.

"Ooooh, nice question! Actually, I am sane, but I'm bipolar, yes?" Kaenshado answered, head cocked sweetly.

The Rozen Maidens, at least the ones that were left, turned to Akaihana for conformation. The doll just sighed and nodded wearily.

"Was she lying about the new eighth doll, desu?"

Akaihana expression went blank and she seemed to ponder her answer for a few seconds.

"... Yes. She is."

"You sure?"

Akaihana crossed her arms defiantly. "Yes, I am."

"Are. You. Sure?"

"YES." She rubbed her temples and turned away from Suiseiseki.

Souseiseiki stared slightly worriedly at the horizon. "... Will we be okay without her here? Don't we need her to rescue Shinku?"

Hachidori patted her on the shoulder. "We have enough time; we still have to help you regain your lost body. Then we will decide how to successfully group together again."

* * *

Scarlet: I apologize for this pathetic excuse of a chapter.

Gellie: Hey! It's not that bad. ... Okay. It is. We will soon grant you with another chapter in apology to the torture of this horrific thing. And.. YUKIHANI IS SOO ANNOYING!

Scarlet: We wrote her that way. And this whole chapter is just a fight scene; I'm sorry about that too.

So. Apparently there's ANOTHER doll. When will it ever stop?

Gellie: She is the last doll, right? That's it.

Scarlet: What about all the minor characters?

Gellie: Ah well. They die anyways. Ah, also. I have to apologize once again about the crappy fighting scenes. We can't write action, unless it's humor like their "fight" with Hinaichigo, but I will try my best in the future.

Scarlet: Ah. Yare yare, ne? Bye

Gellie: So before we post this let me babble out one more thing. "The NEW ROZEN MAIDEN ANIME IS COMING OUT IN JULY, AND THE MAKERS ARE NOT THAT STUPID NOMAD COMPANY! THEY'RE CALLED Studio DEEN~! AND THE STORY APPARENTLY IS THE NEW MANGA.

Scarlet: I couldn't care less who's making the anime. As long as it's not Nomad. And you told us that already.


End file.
